SOME doctors operating in Parkway's hospitals and medical centres are up in arms over their landlord's move to change the terms of their relationship.
They are unhappy that the hospital group wants to set clinical standards, monitor their work and maybe even take over the management of their patients.
The specialists at Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth and East Shore hospitals now operate independently, merely renting services and facilities such as operating theatres, wards and laboratories.
But Dr Goh Jin Hian, the head of Parkway's Singapore operations, is arguing that the current arrangement meant there was no uniform standard of treatment to compare with other hospitals and 'a general lack of trust between the physician and the hospital'.
Also, the 'arms-length relationship' meant poor matching of demand with supply. This is inefficient and costly, as there are periods when the hospital facilities are underutilised, he said in a paper circulated to doctors last month.
He felt it was better to have clinical and administrative leadership provided possibly by an 'anchor tenant' of a group of specialists willing to play the role.
The group would decide the clinical quality for all to follow if they expect to retain their accreditation, needed for use of the facilities.
Dr Goh's proposals were made after more than a dozen meetings with doctors since early this year.
He declined to answer queries from The Straits Times, except to say that 'ideas are 'living'' and will 'change as we receive input'.
His proposals have not gone down well with some doctors.
One told Mount Elizabeth Hospital's medical advisory board in a letter that the 'anchor tenant' model was unacceptable. 'We are respected professionals, not tenants in a shopping mall,' the doctor said.
Oncologist Yap-Whang Hwee Yong, whose clinic is at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, said she had no issues with promoting quality, but she felt that doctors should be the ones to choose the 'clinical leader' and decide the yardsticks for the rest to follow.
'What if the clinical leader doesn't practise state-of-the-art medicine? Do the rest have to follow?' she asked.
Cancer doctors have another bone to pick, especially after Parkway opened its own Cancer Centre, helmed by Dr Ang Peng Tiam, about two years ago.
The hospital used to distribute patients equally among the specialists working at its hospitals and medical centres.
Cancer pioneer, Dr Tan Yew Oo, who practises at Gleneagles Hospital, said now that the landlord is competing with tenants for business, its own cancer centre has become the 'favoured son'.
He said the number of patients referred to him by the group is just 20 per cent of what it used to be. 'These are often patients whose referring doctors ask for me by name,' he said.
Four oncologists The Straits Times spoke to said they had no idea that a cancer centre was coming up until it was opened.
Said Dr Yap-Whang: 'None of us was informed that such a programme was coming on stream, nor invited to join.'
Parkway also has its own Eye Centre at Gleneagles, set up in May last year with Dr Lee Hung Ming in charge.
Doctors in other specialties are worried, since Parkway has indicated that it plans to launch its own centres in surgery, orthopaedics, and heart and vascular treatments.
Cardiologist Leslie Lam found the proposals 'totally unfair'.
'They want to control us, but this was not how Mount Elizabeth was built up. We have been supportive of the hospital all these years,' he added.
Some specialists are planning to move to the new 'mediplex' at Farrer Road which will have 210 medical suites, a hospital and a hotel. But it will not be ready for another couple of years.
There are not many other private hospitals they can turn to which operate the way Parkway used to.
Raffles Hospital employs its doctors, very much like public hospitals do. Mount Alvernia Hospital and Thomson Medical Centre are possible options, but they are not as large or as comprehensive as the Parkway hospitals.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on November 05, 2008.
