SINGAPORE — A general practitioner was jailed two years and fined S$130,000 for selling more than 2,300 litres of cough syrup illegally to drug abusers.

The quantity of cough mixture containing codeine in this case is one of the highest among cases prosecuted by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).

Dr Tan Gek Young, 61, sold nearly 26,000 bottles of cough mixture over 15 months. This worked out to an estimated 57 bottles per day, and he reaped at least S$600,000 in profit from these illicit sales.

In his sentencing remarks on Tuesday (Jan 17), District Judge Lim Tse Haw said that the authorities trust doctors to prescribe the appropriate amount of cough mixture to patients to cure them.

“Hence, when a doctor betrays this trust and indiscriminately sells such cough preparations to drug addicts because of the lucrative nature of the illegal sales, the law must come down hard on such a black sheep of this honourable profession,” he said.

Dr Tan, who ran Meridian Polyclinic and Surgery at Bedok North, was known among drug abusers for being willing to supply them with codeine cough mixture.

He would pass abusers bottles upon their request in the consultation room and charge them S$25 to S$30 for each 90ml bottle.

Later, he started selling 3.8-litre canisters of cough mixture to four abusers, whom he saw frequently at the clinic. Each canister was priced between S$1,000 to S$1,100.

These illegal activities took place between January 2014 and June 2015. During this period, the clinic was raided by the HSA and the Central Narcotics Bureau in July 2014.

But rather than cutting back on his sideline, Dr Tan started selling to drug abusers again. In one particular case, he sold 108 canisters to a drug addict from January to June 2015.

“It is as if he knew that his time will be up soon and was trying to make as much money as possible before he had to stop his medical practice, knowing full well at all times that (this drug abuser) and other purchasers will be reselling the cough preparations to other drug abusers,” said DJ Lim.

In 2010, he was suspended from practice for six months and fined S$5,000 by the Singapore Medical Council for the inappropriate prescription of medication.