Singapore blocks access to online gender clinic GenderGP due to ‘public health risk’

CONTROVERSIAL TELEMEDICINE PLATFORM

GenderGP has been the subject of various controversies in the United Kingdom. 

In 2017, Dr Webberley was issued an interim suspension order by the UK’s General Medical Council, following complaints about her clinical approach. She was also convicted the following year of running an independent medical agency without being registered.

Although she won her suspension appeal in 2023, her licence was revoked earlier in July for failing to comply with the legal obligation to revalidate it every five years.

Separately, British daily The Telegraph found in 2021 that the clinic was willing to prescribe sex change drugs to children under 16 without parental consent. 

Similarly, a 15-year-old was prescribed “dangerous” levels of hormones by the clinic without speaking to a doctor, according to a BBC report published in May. The case was also brought up in parliament by Scottish politician Neale Hanvey.

In the joint reply on Wednesday, Singapore authorities said Dr Webberley is not a registered medical practitioner with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) and therefore cannot practise in Singapore. 

“Foreign doctors applying for medical registration in Singapore must be in good standing with the jurisdiction where they were registered and practised,” MOH and IMDA said. 

The doctors must arrange for a Certificate of Good Standing to be sent to SMC directly by the professional authority in that jurisdiction before their application for a practice certificate will be processed. 

Registered medical practitioners must inform the SMC if they are subject to disciplinary inquiry by professional authorities in other jurisdictions.

The authorities strongly advised people against using GenderGP’s telehealthcare services.

“It is also clinically unsafe and inappropriate for persons in Singapore to seek telehealth services from GenderGP, without any prior medical examination, clinical evaluation or blood tests,” they added.