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The Ministry of Health has formulated its
draft regulatory regime pertaining to liposuction. In the proposal, MOH
will regulate liposuction as a special care service under the Private
Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act. |
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Any clinic that offers liposuction
must obtain prior approval from the Ministry and comply with
specific licensing conditions. The licensing conditions will
regulate two aspects of liposuction: the premises and the
practice (See draft conditions at Annex ) |
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(a) Premises |
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Only liposuction procedures that (a) remove
less than 1 litre of supernatant fat[1] in healthy patients, and (b) are
performed under local anaesthesia, may be permitted in appropriately
equipped surgical facilities of approved medical clinics. When the above
procedure is undertaken with sedation, the practitioner would, at a
minimum, need to be assisted by a registered nurse. |
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When liposuction involves (a) the removal of
more than 1 litre of fat, (b) the use of general anaesthesia or (c)
patients with medical conditions, the procedure can only be performed in
an ambulatory surgery centre or a hospital. |
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(b) Practice |
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A doctor who wishes to practise liposuction
must have undergone at least 1 year of surgical training following
housemanship. The doctor must also have attended relevant
liposuction-specific education and training (e.g. liposuction
workshops), observed and performed a minimum number of liposuction
procedures under preceptorship. |
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These are broad requirements. When
evaluating individual applications for approval, the training
requirements may vary depending on the total experience of the doctor
and the type of liposuction he does. For example, for less invasive
procedures which are modifications of liposuction such as lipoaspiration
where the volume of fat aspirated is less than 100ml, a period of 6
months of surgical training and/or relevant procedure-specific training
may suffice. |
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All practitioners must also be certified and
be current in basic resuscitation (viz. Basic Cardiac Life Support)
skills. |
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Practitioners with previous experience in
liposuction who wish to continue to perform liposuction in their clinic
will have their performance records reviewed. |
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Hospitals and ambulatory surgery centres
will need to have credentialling systems in place to accredit their
doctors who perform liposuction. For a start, the training requirements
mentioned above will be used as minimum standards for credentialling. |
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Every doctor who performs liposuction must
have properly evaluated and counselled the patient on the procedure. |
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We recognize that most patients seek
liposuction to enhance their physical appearance. |
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In view of this, and as liposuction is not a
procedure to treat a life-threatening condition, and yet carries some
risks, MOH is proposing to make it mandatory for patients to be given a
minimum15-day period to consider the procedure and risks before the
procedure may be carried out. If patients have traveled from abroad for
the procedure, this requirement may be waived but the doctor will need
to document the evaluation and counselling process in detail. |
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All doctors who perform liposuction must do
so under a quality assurance framework. This means that the doctor must
keep proper patient medical records and document his patients’ outcomes
and satisfaction and any adverse events arising from liposuction. He
should also participate regularly in peer review and practice
improvement programmes. |
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MOH will audit the quality assurance
programme periodically to assess the safety and quality of the
liposuction services provided, which, in turn, will determine whether
the licence for such services will be renewed. |
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MOH will be gathering feedback on the
proposed regulatory regime for liposuction. The feedback and views
gathered will be used to determine the final licensing conditions. The
public can give us their feedback at moh_info@moh.gov.sg or send their
comments to: |
Feedback on liposuction regulation
Ministry
of Health
Collegeof Medicine Building
16 College Road
Singapore 169854
Fax: 6224 1677 |
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MINISTRY OF HEALTH
27 APRIL 2008 |
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[1] A liquid containing a local anaesthetic
and vasoconstrictor (to reduce blood loss) is usually injected into the
fat layer to facilitate liposuction. The resulting mixture of fat,
blood, and liquid that was originally introduced would then be removed
through suction. If left to stand, this mixture will eventually separate
out into different layers, with the fat in the upper layer. This upper
layer is called the supernatant fat. |
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Source:
www.moh.gov.sg Press Release 27
Apr 2008 |
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Related Article: |
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Regulations and guidelines on aesthetic medicine |
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FrontPage Edition: Sun 27 April 2008
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