The Health Bureau (SSM) announced yesterday that a 71-year-old local man provided unlicensed medical services for several years in his residential unit and that the situation was only discovered yesterday following the still-unexplained death of a male mainlander last month who had received medical treatment from the “doctor”.
The bureau made the announcement during a hastily convened press conference at the public Conde de Sao Januario Hospital Centre last night, which was co-hosted by Leong Pui San, a senior SSM official in charge of the issuing of medical licences, and two other SSM officials.
The bureau said that it had fined the bogus doctor surnamed Chan 8,000 patacas for providing unlicensed medical services.
According to Leong, officers of the Judiciary Police (PJ), who are investigating the mainlander’s death, questioned Chan at his flat in Areia Preta district yesterday.
After a preliminary investigation, the police suspect that Chan provided unlicensed medical services at the flat. The Judiciary Police transferred the case to the Health Bureau yesterday, which confirmed that Chan does not hold a licence to work as a medical practitioner and that the premises – his flat – had not been issued with a licence for the provision of medical services, according to Leong.
When repeatedly asked by the media during last night’s press conference about the deceased – such as the exact cause of death – and the fake doctor, Leong said her bureau did not have much information about the deceased as the Judiciary Police had only given her bureau little information about the case. She said that the Judiciary Police would issue a statement detailing the case later.
A PJ statement released shortly after yesterday’s SSM press conference said that the public hospital transferred the case concerning the mainlander’s death to the Judiciary Police for further investigation on June 17.
According to the statement, the deceased’s wife told PJ officers that her 44-year-old husband received medical treatment at a flat in Areia Preta district – Chan’s “clinic” – on June 15 due to a sore throat and fever. The man fainted in a lift in the building where he lives in the early hours of June 16, after which he was taken to the public hospital for emergency treatment. He died at the hospital at 1 p.m. on June 17, said the statement.
The PJ statement did not mention the cause of death of the mainlander.
During yesterday’s SSM press conference, Leong said that the Health Bureau did not know the exact cause of death of the man as the Judiciary Police had merely told the bureau that the man’s death “was not caused by medicine”
The PJ statement said that on June 17, several hours after the man had died at the public hospital, PJ officers went to the residential unit where the deceased had received medical treatment but they were unable to contact the flat’s owner. Subsequently, PJ officers went to the flat many times but still could not contact the owner. The statement said that PJ officers finally were able to contact the owner at his flat yesterday and immediately questioned him.
After a preliminary investigation, PJ officers discovered that the flat’s owner – Chan – does not hold a licence to work as a medical practitioner and that his flat does not have a licence to be used for medical services, the PJ statement said. Therefore, the PJ officers suspected that Chan had been providing unlicensed medical services at the flat and transferred the case to the Health Bureau for confirmation.
According to the PJ statement, Chan admitted that he had been providing unlicensed medical services since 2014.
According to Leong, the address of Chan’s flat is Unit A, 14/F, Block 2 of Kin Wa Estate.
According to Leong, Chan was still being questioned by police officers at the time of last night’s press conference.
According to Leong, Chan told the police that he had provided medical treatment on the mainland before doing the same in Macau.
Chan told the police that he had primarily provided medical treatment for diseases such as colds, mostly for relatives, friends and neighbours, according to Leong.
Leong noted that no signage outside Chan’s flat claiming that a clinic is located there. However, SSM officials sized a raft of medicines and instruments used for medical treatment at Chan’s flat.
Chan admitted that he had smuggled the medicines to Macau from the mainland. The items seized include a stethoscope, a blood pressure meter, syringes, packs of saline, as well as open packets of medicines, such as antibiotics, allergy treatments, and painkillers.
This photo provided by the Health Bureau (SSM) yesterday shows medicines seized in the illegal clinic in Areia Preta district yesterday.
Leong Pui San, a senior Health Bureau (SSM) official in charge of the issuing of medical licences, addresses yesterday’s special press conference about an unlicensed clinic run by a “fake doctor”, at the public Conde de Sao Januario Hospital Centre. Photo: Tony Wong
