No, TCMPB is not the platform to get compensation. TCMPB operates under the remit of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act (“TCMPA”) in regulating the professional conduct and professional practice of registered TCM practitioners in Singapore. Under the TCMPA, even if your complaint is found to be valid, the disciplinary framework only allows for the imposition of disciplinary sanctions against TCM practitioners and cannot make an order of monetary compensation against the TCM practitioners. Issues relating to TCM fees/treatment packages are outside the ambit of TCMPB’s purview. Similarly, TCMPB is also not in a position to intervene on marketing and sales of TCM treatment packages to patients as these are commercial contracts entered between consent parties.

If you feel that you have been overcharged and/or billed excessively, you may wish to approach the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) for assistance. Please visit their website at https://www.case.org.sg/ or call them at 9795 8397 for advice.

Alternatively, you may wish to seek your own independent legal advice.

Likewise, TCM fees and charges are not a regulated component in the TCMP Act. TCMPB also does not issue any formal guidelines or advise on charges for TCM treatment and medicines dispensed. TCM practitioners are to ensure that the fees or range of fees for TCM treatment and medicine are made known to patients in advance of providing services. If in doubt, patients should ask for an explanation on the TCM fees and charges from the TCM practitioners first and to proceed with the TCM treatment or services offered only if they are agreeable with the pricing.