THE doctor should have told me he was busy, instead of making me wait for 1 1/2 hours and then saying he can't see my sick children as he had to rush off.

That is what Mr Amos Sim, 38, feels about his visit to his regular neighbourhood doctor on Tuesday.

But Dr Mark Low of Doctors Clinic and Surgery in Woodlands feels he would rather not see patients when he is in a rush as he might make a mistake.

He also had to rush off to attend to another clinic session.

'I needed a small break to pull myself together. I told Mr Sim that I would rather not see his children when I am in a rush and could possibly make a mistake,' he said.

COMPLAINT MADE

This difference of opinion has led to Mr Sim making a complaint with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC).

Mr Sim and his mother had taken his two children to the clinic on Tuesday.

His 8-year-old daughter had vomited twice and had a fever for two days.

Mr Sim was worried it was hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

At the same time, his two-year-old son also had a running nose, cough and blisters around his mouth.

The family arrived at the clinic at around 11am.

At 12.30pm, a clinic assistant told them the doctor was leaving and that they should come back after 2pm.

Said Mr Sim: 'Imagine our dismay. Why not tell us in the first place that the clinic was too busy, so we could have gone somewhere else?'

He said the clinic assistant told him they had called out his children's names, but no one responded.

'How could that have happened? We were so anxious to see the doctor and waited outside his office with the two queue number stubs,' he said,

His two numbers were 8911 and 8912. He also kept a close eye on an elderly man seated nearby whose number was 8910.

'No one told us to listen out for my children's names. So we kept checking the number panel.'

He said the panel had remained at number 8903 for a long time.

'We were later told that it was not working. Shouldn't we have been told this beforehand?'

The two closest clinics had closed at 12.30pm. So the family rushed to one 'further away'.

There, Mr Sim learnt that his children just had the common flu.

'That was all I needed to hear,' he said.

'There was no way I could find this out myself. I am not medically trained,' he said.

The next day, Mr Sim went to the SMC to lodge a complaint against Dr Low.

This was confirmed by the SMC.

The SMC will form a committee to investigate the complaint. It can then dismiss the complaint, give the doctor a letter of advice or a letter of warning, or set up a formal inquiry

Dr Low has since written a letter of apology to Mr Sim. This was confirmed by both men and Dr Low's lawyer.

Mr Sim said he had received it in an e-mail. He later received the apology written out and signed by Dr Low. Mr Sim collected it last night from the clinic.

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 23.