SINGAPORE, Sept 10 — A Singapore doctor learnt the hard way that even medical practitioners cannot write themselves a free pass from work.

Dr Cherida Yong Chun Yin, a house officer at Singapore General Hospital, has been suspended for three years after she forged medical certificates to excuse her own absences, The Straits Times reported yesterday.

The suspension announced in the Government Gazette yesterday, starts from September 3 and ends September 2, 2028.

Dr Yong was also censured, ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings, and told to provide a written promise to the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) that she will not repeat her mistake.

According to the news report, there were two incidents that happened in 2022 when she decided that skipping work was easier with a little paperwork of her own.

She produced forged medical certificates for July 1 and September 12, pretending they had been issued by another clinic.

Routine checks quickly revealed that she had not visited the clinic at all, and the cover story unravelled.

Dr Yong initially denied wrongdoing, but later admitted to faking the documents, saying it was done under personal stress.

The SMC was not persuaded, noting “there was no evidence of any mental health condition impairing her capacity for reasoned judgment or volition”.

It concluded that her conduct was “premeditated, repeated, and calculated, warranting the highest sanction available”, describing the act as “a serious violation of professional integrity”.