[Above: Madam Sharena showing her NRIC, which has her new address.]

WHAT HAPPENED

• 14 Oct 2007: Woman registers at NUH, giving Madam Sharena's IC number, but says she doesn't have IC with her
• February: Madam Sharena gets $50 bill from NUH. She calls NUH to dispute bill. Hospital says it would investigate
• March: Madam Sharena gets 2nd reminder letter, told to pay outstanding $50. She calls NUH and is told case is still being investigated
• Early August: Madam Sharena gets 3rd reminder, told to pay up within seven days. She calls The New Paper
• 26 Aug and 29 Aug: NUH calls Madam Sharena twice to apologise for error and delay in communication

By Arul John

SHE received a bill for emergency hospital treatment she never received.

Thus began a battle of wills between music teacher Sharena Shaheed Jarnail, 25, and National University Hospital (NUH) over the treatment that never was last year.

Someone else had visited the hospital, quoted her NRIC number during registration and claimed to be Madam Sharena.

When the imposter could not pay for her treatment, NUH sent the bill to Madam Sharena's last-known address.

Madam Sharena said she received the bill from NUH in February.

'The bill stated I had outstanding payment of $50 for treatment of a hand problem I received on 14Oct last year.

'The bill was sent to my old address at Woodlands Street 11, my in-laws' home.'

New home

But Madam Sharena said she was visiting relatives that day and was nowhere near NUH. She added that she no longer lives in Woodlands and her NRIC now has her new home address as Pasir Ris.

'I have also never had any problems with my hands. The last time I visited NUH was in 2005 for a wisdom tooth extraction.

'At that time, the hospital records showed my old address, which is also where my in-laws live. Had I visited NUH last year, they would have known my new address.'

When her husband, who was visiting his parents at the time, saw the bill and told Madam Sharena about it, she called NUH and explained the situation.

NUH staff said they would investigate. But she received more reminder letters instead and finally called The New Paper to share her predicament.

A day after The New Paper approached NUH, Madam Sharena said it called her to apologise for what had happened.

She said: 'I was told that a woman visited NUH that day with her fingers cut by glass. Upon registration, she claimed she did not have her identity card and quoted an NRIC number matching mine.

'I was told the staff may not have verified her identity further as they wanted to have her treated quickly because she was bleeding badly. The hospital said it was an honest mistake.'

An NUH spokesman told The New Paper that Madam Sharena was a victim of mistaken identity.

She said a woman visited their accident and emergency unit at 11.40pm on 14Oct for treatment of a minor hand injury.

The woman claimed she didn't have her identity card with her and gave the registration staff an NRIC number that was the same as Madam Sharena's.

The NUH spokesman said the hospital's registration staff usually ask patients questions to verify their identities.

But because the incident was some time ago, they could not say for sure if this was done.

The spokesman said: 'The woman was able to provide information that matched Madam Sharena's details in our records as part of the verifying process. As her demographic profile also matched Madam Sharena's, the unsuspecting staff registered her under Madam Sharena's name.

'The woman also told our staff of her new telephone number and the records were thus updated.'

Could not pay fully

The spokesman said the woman asked NUH to send her a bill as she could not fully pay for her treatment that day.

She said: 'The bill was sent in Madam Sharena's name to her Woodlands address. From the time she registered in NUH until the time she was discharged, the woman never told our staff of any errors in their registration or that she was not Madam Sharena.'

When Madam Sharena first informed NUH of the discrepancy, the spokesman said they called the woman at the telephone number she provided.

She said: 'The woman told us to send her the bill to her address, ie Madam Sharena's Woodlands address. When Madam Sharena called us again, we called the woman again but were told that the telephone number she gave was not in use.'

NUH apologised to Madam Sharena for the error and she has accepted its apology.

The spokesman added that Madam Sharena did not have to settle the outstanding debt.

Madam Sharena, who runs a music school in Bukit Timah with her husband, said she does not know who would want to impersonate her.

'I told the NUH staff that I would gladly pay the $50 if I was the guilty party,' she added.

'It is not a very big amount that we cannot pay. But what would have happened if this person had gone for major surgery and a $10,000 bill was sent to me?

'I am glad that the matter has been settled, but am concerned that it may happen to me again.'

NUH REPLIES

THE spokesman for National University of Singapore said:

'We are disappointed that we seemed to have been misled by the woman who could have intentionally provided inaccurate information to us.

'We are deeply apologetic to Madam Sharena that, due to the circumstances, she was unfortunately involved, and that the lapse in our communication resulted in inconvenience to her.

'Following this incident, we will adopt an additional precaution by asking patients who do not have their NRICs with them and who have non-life threatening conditions to show us additional identification documents.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Sept 3, 2008.