SINGAPORE — A 28-year-old doctor who signed off on four of his own medical certificates (MCs), in order to explain his absence from work at Changi General Hospital, was fined S$7,000 on Tuesday (May 7).

Joel Arun Sursas was posted to the hospital’s diagnostic radiology department between Sept 1, 2015 and Jan 4, 2016.

He also worked as a locum, or stand-in doctor, at Etern Medical Clinic in the evenings between July 10, 2015 and Dec 11, 2015, which was against the rules.

His lawyer, Mr Lee Teck Leng from the Legal Clinic LLC, told District Judge Mathew Joseph that Sursas never did locum work at the expense of his job at the hospital, as it always took place after his hospital shifts.

On one occasion on Nov 25, 2015, Sursas issued himself an MC by signing above the word "Locum" without stating his name.

He then backdated it to the day he did not report to work at Changi General Hospital, which was five days earlier, before submitting it to the hospital.

His offences were only discovered when the hospital made enquiries with Etern.

In mitigation, Mr Lee said that Sursas had been depressed at the time over a split with his long-time girlfriend, who lived in Canada.

He was certain they would get married in the future, and was shocked when she broke up with him out of the blue in August 2015, which led to him suffering from insomnia, mood swings and depression, Mr Lee added.

“The accused was in a state of denial. He therefore did not confide in anyone. He also did not try and seek professional help as he was too embarrassed to tell a fellow doctor about his personal problems,” Mr Lee said.

On the days that Sursas forged his MCs, he had either overslept or was unmotivated to report to work.

His work at Changi General Hospital, which entailed reading the results of X-rays and scans on a monitor inside a dark room, was also “devoid of human interactions”.

The lawyer explained that Sursas worked as a locum to earn some extra income to travel to Canada and patch things up with his ex-girlfriend.

He earned S$95 an hour at Etern, where he worked from 6.30pm to 9.30pm on 47 separate occasions.

District Judge Mathew called it a “sad case”, telling Sursas that he had fallen short of his standards as a doctor, but that he was glad Sursas had gotten over his relationship issues.

“You’re still young, 28 years old… I hope you don’t see this as the end and try to pick up the pieces,” the judge said.

After the hearing, Sursas told reporters through his lawyer: “I deeply regret my actions. The last four years have not diminished my desire to serve society as a doctor. I hope society allows me to redeem myself.”

In September last year, a disciplinary tribunal from the Singapore Medical Council ordered him to be suspended for three years and fined S$15,000. He was also censured and ordered to give a written undertaking that he would not repeat his misconduct.

The medical watchdog then referred the matter to the police. Sursas pleaded guilty in court last month to one charge of forgery, with another three counts taken into consideration for sentencing.

For forgery, he could have been jailed up to four years and/or fined.