With your place of employment already treating you like you’re a child when you claim to be ill, it looks like the government is determined to join in the policing to make sure you’re not skipping work with a lame excuse.
Lawmaker Chan Kin-por is concerned about “reports” that some doctors, perhaps too easily swayed by their desperate patients, have been issuing sick leave certificates on demand, even when the patient is not too ill, or issuing them for longer than necessary.
GASP!
Chan, in an inquiry raised to Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man, asked whether the police have investigated cases of fraudulent sick notes, and conducted any undercover stings to pose as patients.
Clearly, that would be a great use of public resources.
Though Secretary Ko replied that the “abusive inssuance” of sick notes could indeed fall under the crimes of deception of conspiracy to defraud, and that the police would pursue any such cases appropriately, he admitted they do not purposefully keep stats of such cases.
He could tell us, however, that from 2009 to 2013, two doctors were convicted for issuing misleading or false medical certificates, resulting in their names being removed from the Medical Council of Hong Kong register.
Thank heavens we have lawmakers like Chan bringing attention to the important issues of today’s society.
Let’s not forget how grateful we are to lawmaker James To for bringing up the issue of IFC’s too-shiny windows.
Photo: TheGiantVermin via Flickr
