Do fillers have to be performed by doctors in Singapore?

Dr Rachel Ho and Dr Israr Wong have answered your questions well. You can go to Singapore Medical Council's (SMC) website to check whether he/she is registered with SMC.

He/she should have a registration number (MCR number), a valid practicing certificate, and a Certificate of Competence (COC) IF he/she is practicing in Singapore.

Foreign doctors are not allowed to practice or perform procedures without registration with SMC, even though they are doctor and they are registered in their own countries.

Under section 17(1)(a) of the MRA, any unauthorised person who practices medicine shall be liable on first conviction to a fine of up to $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Repeat offenders face a fine of up to $200,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.

Below are a few telltale signs that the "doctor" is not a certified medical practitioner and does not possess any medical qualification, or he/she is practicing without registration with SMC.

1) The procedure took place in HDB, beauty salon, hotel room or your house etc. Medical clinic should have a valid Clinic License displayed near the front desk.

2) The "doctor" is not local and doesn't speak proper English.

3) Fillers used are labelled in Chinese or Korean.

4) You were offered "half-price" treatment compare to other aesthetic clinics in Singapore.

Hope this helps!

I will answer your question in 2 parts:

1) How to tell if the practitioner is a doctor

2) How to tell if the doctor is trained to perform filler injections.

With regards to the first part, you can search the Singapore Medical Council register of registered doctors online (https://prs.moh.gov.sg/prs/internet/profSearch/main.action?hpe=SMC).

Alternatively, you can ask your doctor to show his/her Singapore Medical Council registration card or certificate.

All doctors practising in Singapore have to be registered with the Singapore Medical Council, regardless of the university that they graduated from.

How to tell whether your doctor is trained is trickier. You can ask to see the doctor's Certificate of Competence (CoC) for filler injections. It is mandatory for doctors to obtain this CoC in order to practise aesthetic treatments.

Unfortunately, there is no register available to search for the public to search for this. You can also have an idea how 'trained' the doctor is by asking about the experience and patient pictures that he/she has.

Yes, only doctors are allowed to perform filler injections in Singapore. If you want to make sure that the person treating you is a doctor with a license in Singapore, ask for their MCR number. Basically it’s our unique license number with Singapore Medical Council.

Alternatively, you can ask to see their medical license card, which is a blue card that states the validity of the license.

Once you have confirmed that it’s a doctor licensed in SG, you can then ask if they have certificates of competence (COC) pertaining to filler injections from the Singapore Medical Council.

All these are pre-requisites for offering filler injections.

One tell tale sign is often a very cheap and low price for the filler, or if the doctor can’t even speak proper English. Hope that helps !