Thomson Medical pleads guilty, fined S$20,000
The medical centre that used the wrong sperm to impregnate a patient has been fined the maximum S$20,000 after pleading guilty to breaching a condition of its Health Ministry licence.
Thomson Medical Centre failed to ensure suitable practices were used in carrying out AR activities, as required by its license under the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act, reported Channel NewsAsia.
The medical centre has pleaded guilty to the charge of processing two semen specimens at the same workstation at the same time.
After each step of processing, it also did not discard the disposable pipettes used, as is standard procedure. They were instead labelled and kept for use in subsequent processing for the same patient.
Its practices came to light after a news report last November revealed Thomson Fertility Centre, one of Thomson Medical's units, had botched an in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) by using the wrong man's sperm to impregnate a patient.
Following the case, the Ministry of Health directed all AR centres to strictly follow procedures. It also suspended the medical centre from all new AR activities.
