By Jessica Jaganathan

THE Health Ministry has barred five medical clinics from performing liposuction, under new laws designed to police the lucrative - and previously unregulated - surgical procedure.

Officials told The Straits Times yesterday some clinic doctors did not have enough training and experience in liposuction while some staff were not versed in basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) did not release the names of the clinics and it is not clear if their doctors are general practitioners (GPs) or specialists practising aesthetic medicine.

Clinical trials still needed for 7 treatments

THE Singapore medical watchdog has come out to say categorically: Doctors offering seven scientifically unproven aesthetic treatments must do so in a context similar to clinical trials.
This means these treatments have to be approached scientifically - from the way the treatment is delivered to how its results are measured, recorded and analysed.

A spokesman for the Singapore Medical Council (SMC), responding to queries from The Straits Times (ST), explained that clinical trials or other similarly highly-monitored studies would be required for the following controversial treatments:

• Cellulite-dissolving mesotherapy,
• Fat-busting carboxytherapy, Cellulite-reducing endermologie and mechanised massage,
• Scar-reducing microneedling,
• Skin-whitening injections,
• Stem cell activator protein for skin cell rejuvenation, and
• Negative pressure procedures that supposedly improve blood circulation.

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