MOH bars Reves Clinic from all liposuction (ST 8 Jan)
THE Ministry of Health (MOH) has ordered the Orchard Road clinic that performed cosmetic surgery on Mr Franklin Heng, just before he died last week, to cease the type of treatment involved.
Mr Heng, 44, the chief executive of a $1 billion company, was rushed by ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital on Dec 30 but was pronounced dead there despite efforts to revive him.
The former CEO of YTL Pacific Star, a property management firm, had undergone ‘liposuction’ treatment that afternoon at Reves Clinic. Broadly, the procedure involves sucking fat out of the body.
The divorcee and father of two was said by a close friend to have fretted over ‘love handles’.
Police are treating the death as unnatural and are investigating, as is MOH.
‘Meanwhile, MOH had already directed the clinic concerned to stop all liposuction and liposuction-related procedures under the PHMC Act,’ the ministry said in a written statement. The Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics or PHMC Act governs the operations of private hospitals and clinics like Reves Clinic.
Yesterday, the clinic looked closed for business. The lights were off and no one appeared to be present when The Straits Times visited the two-man practice at International Building late in the afternoon.
Efforts to track down Dr Jim Wong, 34, a general practitioner (GP) in the eye of the storm, proved unsuccessful. The phone was engaged during repeated tries to call him.
According to its website, Reves Clinic’s opening hours are 9am to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 6pm on Saturdays.
Official records show that Reves Clinic was registered in July last year by Dr Wong and another GP named Dr Zhu Xiu Chun. Dr Zhu had told The Straits Times on Monday that Mr Heng was a patient of Dr Wong’s, but declined to comment further. She confirmed that the ‘police have taken statements’ at the clinic.
Although Mr Heng was known to be a repeat visitor to the clinic, it is not clear who had treated him on the day he died.
The case has been referred to the coroner.
Dr Wong’s registered address is in Balam Road, where his elderly parents live. According to his mother, who asked to be identified as Madam Huang, Dr Wong does not live at the flat.
‘I have not seen him in weeks and have not been able to get in touch with him,’ said Madam Huang, 76, in Mandarin. ‘He comes back once or twice a month to visit but usually keeps to himself.’
The Singapore Medical Council doctors’ registry has Dr Wong and Dr Zhu listed as GPs with diplomas in dermatology, a branch of medicine dealing with the skin.
The clinic’s website says Dr Wong specialises in cosmetic treatments such as ’superficial liposuction’ techniques. These treatments remove ‘deep and superficial fat’ followed by a ‘detailed sculpting process’, stated the website.
Additional reporting by Dickson Li and Esther Teo
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