Update of Letter to Ministry of Health

This is an update from the previous post, about the letter being sent to Ministry of Health (MOH) and Allied Health Professions Council (APHC). Hereby, it is stated that this letter may cause some controversy in the psychology community in Singapore; hence if you do not read further, please exit now. 

To protect the confidentiality of the sender, some details have been omitted or slightly altered.


To provide readers with better clarity on the topic and some of the things mentioned in the letter, this post will start from the first email/letter sent (as from the previous post) and links have been provided for you to access them. 

______________________________________________________________________
Sent: [Date removed]-10-11
Subject: Regulatory and Licensing
case number is PQ-11-00xxxx.

This enquiry is about the regulation and registration of psychologists in Singapore. I noticed that in the Allied Health Professionals Act 2011, it only included clinical psychologist, which means that only clinical psychologists will be regulated by this act. And in the HPP site, there is no council for the registration for psychologists. I understand that this registration is done by Singapore Psychological Society (SPS). However it is not compulsory if someone wishes to be a psychologist. Hence there is no formal regulation and registration for psychologists of other areas (educational/organisational/counselling/etc.) in Singapore.

Probably the ministry could look into this, and have some form of mandatory regulation for psychologists in Singapore. This is a vital issue as this affects the prestige and recognition of psychologists(clinical and other areas) in Singapore. This also creates a chain reaction for the academic programs in psychology in Singapore. 

I am not a clinical psychologist, so the regulations and the act do not really affect me at all; however I feel that for the benefit of our clients, there should be some regulation into the registration and control over the other areas of psychology as well. Doesn't "Do no harm to clients" not apply to all psychologists practising in Singapore?

Hope to hear back from you. Thanks for reading this feedback. 
_________________________________________________________________________
Reply to sender:
Received: Oct xx 2011 

Dear xxxx,

Thank you for taking the time and effort to share the suggestions for our consideration.

MOH will take note of your feedback and we will consolidate all other public feedback for our next policy review.

We take this chance to wish you and your family good health always.

Yours sincerely, 

xxxx 
for Quality Service Manager
Ministry of Health, Singapore

________________________________________________________________________
Sender's reply:
Date: May xx 2013

Hi 

The below enquiry and reply email was processed more than 17 months ago. However, it was not a very satisfactory reply, as there was no implications for what was going to be done, and nothing much seemed to be done in the last 17 months.

The Act has not been enforced for clinical psychologists as yet, since the passing of the Act (which I assume is 2011). I understand these processes take time. Is there a projected date/month for when this is going to happen?

And to ask the main question as posed in my previous enquiry again, shouldn't there be a mandatory registration for all other kinds of psychologists in Singapore enforced and imposed by the government, rather than a voluntary-based registration as done by the SRP
This is important, as this affects the prestige and recognition of psychologists (clinical and other areas) in Singapore, considering their influences on the salary rates of psychologists even though we study as many years as doctors.


Thanks for taking time to reply this email.
_______________________________________________________________________
Reply to sender:
Received: June xx 2013 

Dear xxxx

The Allied Health Professions (AHP) Act was brought into force in April 2013 and registration has just commenced for occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech-language therapists.

The inclusion and regulation of the other allied health professions under the AHP Act will be reviewed and implemented progressively.

Thank you for your feedback.

Yours sincerely,
xxxx
for Quality Service Manager
Ministry of Health, Singapore

Comments