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SINGAPORE: A doctor in Singapore has pleaded guilty to forging medical certificates in a bid to offer aesthetic treatments at his clinic without having the required qualifications.

Bernard Tan Wen Sheng admitted to using his wife’s certificates as templates to create four forged documents, two of which he used to falsely claim competency in procedures such as chemical peels and intense pulsed light (IPL) hair removal, according to Channel News Asia.

Dr Tan submitted the altered certificates to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in February 2023 as part of the licence application process for Bay Aesthetics Clinic at Marina Bay Link Mall.

He had not attended two of the workshops and had lost the original certificates for the other two procedures — filler injections and botulinum toxin injections — which he had completed.

Despite warnings from MOH about legal consequences for false submissions, Dr Tan maintained the lie, claiming his documents had been damaged in a house fire and scanned by relatives, resulting in poor image quality.

MOH eventually approved his application but restricted his practice to the services he had legitimately attended workshops for.

Dr Tan subsequently completed the missing workshops in April 2023, after the false submissions were uncovered.

The prosecution is seeking a jail term of four to six months, citing risks to public health and the need for deterrence against forgery involving public institutions.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 29.

Dr Tan remains a registered medical practitioner, with his practising certificate valid until the end of the year.