Hospitals' third-party agent contracts may be illegal

THE recent news of public hospitals engaging agents who bring in foreign patients for a fee came as a shock to many Singaporeans. We applaud the Ministry of Health (MOH) for its directions to public hospitals to end all contracts between them and "third party agents" (TPAs).

These directions ensure fair competition among hospitals because TPA contracts give the infringing party an unfair competitive edge over other hospitals which are compliant with the rules.

What MOH has done is to ensure that public hospitals continue to serve Singaporeans first and foremost, and to ensure that our hospitals do not become excessively profit-driven.