THE Health Ministry will create rules to govern higher-risk beauty treatments, like liposuction, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Sunday.

The guidelines will outline which doctors can perform the procedures, the training they need, and where they can be done, he said.

The move is designed to protect patients, said Mr Khaw, who gave liposuction as an example of a treatment that could be risky.

Today, the procedure is offered by doctors with various backgrounds, from plastic surgeons to general practitioners (GPs). Some do it in an operating theatre while others use their clinics.

The minister said: 'Any operator who flouts the regulation will be investigated. Meanwhile, doctors and patients have been warned.'

When asked whether the rules would extend to a recently publicised list of controversial aesthetic treatments, including mesotherapy, where a 'fat-busting' drug cocktail is injected, Mr Khaw said he was not familiar with the procedures.

Mr Khaw's statement comes after a top Health Ministry official last week likened mesotherapy and 10 other treatments to 'snake oil'.

Dr Tan Chor Hiang, the ministry's senior director for health regulations, said doctors would be asked to stop the procedures unless they can provide scientific evidence that these treatments work.

This had some doctors, for which these treatments made up a large part of their business, up in arms. While some of the treatments might be banned in some countries, they are allowed in others, they argued.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Mr Khaw said he would leave it to the professional bodies - The College of Family Medicine and the Academy of Medicine - to decide if there are benefits to these treatments, which he called 'low risk with dubious benefits'.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.