Dr Samintharaj, the chief executive and clinical director of Nuffield Dental Holdings, has been fined S$50,000 for displaying a set of qualifications which had not been approved by the Singapore Dental Council.
The offending qualifications were used in an advertisement for a seminar in which he was a speaker, that took place in August 2016.
In a flier for the event, Dr Kumar was listed as an MFDS RCS – Member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons (England).
The flyer also mentioned that he was an MFD RCSI – Member of the Faculty of Dentistry , Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland), and that he held a Master of Business Administration degree from London.
Dr Kumar had been warned against such breaches before.
He said he was giving a talk at a symposium when another dentist took a picture showing a presentation slide with his name and the “offending” qualifications and sent it to the SDC.
Dr Kumar said he had “no interest in breaking any rules”.
He pled guilty and said he will pay the fine.
The SDC panel wanted to slap Dr Kumar with a six-week suspension, but the rules only provided for a minimum 3-month suspension which would have been excessive.
As a result, the SDC settled for a S$50,000 fine.
In 2015, Australian dentist Myles Holt was fined $$50,000 on one charge of issuing an unapproved qualification to participants at a training course.
