7 new fraud charges for doctor who was allegedly paid by patients to fake Covid-19 jabs, bail increased

Jessie Lim
The Straits Times
Jan 20, 2023

General practitioner (GP) Jipson Quah, who has been accused of conspiring to submit fake vaccination information to the Ministry of Health (MOH), was handed seven new charges of fraud by false representation on Friday.

Quah, 34, is linked to anti-vaccine group Healing the Divide, and was arrested in January 2022 with its founder, Iris Koh, 46.

On Friday, Quah’s bail was increased to $30,000 from $20,000, and he now faces a total of 17 charges. He is represented by Mr James Gomez from Edmond Pereira Law Corp.

Quah allegedly helped his patients make false representations to MOH that they were vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine when they were not.

These offences allegedly happened between October 2021 and January 2022. 

As a result of Quah’s actions, his patients were considered as vaccinated and eligible for all vaccination-differentiated safe management measures.

In grounds of decision published in April 2022, the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) said that instead of administering the Covid-19 vaccine, Quah had given the patients saline solution.

At least three patients paid him $1,000 to $1,500 for each dose.

Koh and Quah’s clinical assistant, Thomas Chua, 40, are also mentioned in some of the charges. Koh allegedly referred patients to Quah. 

Before his arrest, Quah owned or was clinic manager of four clinics. They are Wan Medical Clinic in Bedok; Mayfair Medical Clinic in Woodlands; Mayfair Medical Clinic in Chong Pang, Yishun; and Ong Clinic & Surgery, also in Yishun.

MOH had earlier said it would be issuing notices of suspension to the four clinics that Quah owned or was clinic manager of, and would revoke their approvals to conduct rapid tests for Covid-19.

If convicted of dishonestly making a false representation to MOH, Quah can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined.

Besides Quah’s criminal charges, SMC also said in its grounds of decision that Quah allegedly organised remote pre-event testing for unvaccinated people, even though this was not allowed at the time. Such people could pay him a monthly subscription fee of $125 for daily testing, or pay $12 per test on an ad hoc basis.

One clinic staff member – identified as “C” – also allowed people to send pre-recorded videos of themselves taking a Covid-19 test, in which they would state their names and the date and time. Their test results would then be uploaded to an MOH database.

Lastly, a patient allegedly approached Quah to get a letter exempting her from being vaccinated against Covid-19. She showed him her positive serology results, indicating that she had recovered from the virus in the past.

Separately, a complaint filed against police officers by Koh was dismissed by a magistrate’s court on Jan 9.

Koh, who was arrested in January 2022 for allegedly conspiring to cheat and submit falsified vaccination records to MOH, had filed a magistrate’s complaint against four police officers she claimed had mishandled personal items seized from her after her arrest.

The magistrate dismissed her complaint and said Koh did not provide any credible evidence that the police officers had committed an offence under the Penal Code.

Quah will return to court for a pre-trial conference on Feb 6.

The Straits Times

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