Man impersonated brother and acquaintance to get medical treatment, jailed

SINGAPORE – A man with back pain visited multiple hospitals and polyclinics across Singapore for medical treatment.

Instead of registering as himself, Logeswaran Mohandas pretended to be his brother and an acquaintance, who ended up being charged for his medical bills.

The 42-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on Jan 8 after he pleaded guilty to six charges, including five for cheating by personation.

Logeswaran had another 19 charges – most of which were for similar offences – taken into consideration in his sentencing.

The court heard that the various bills with the hospitals have since been settled, and that Logeswaran has repaid his brother via instalments, while his acquaintance did not wish for any restitution.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Chan Yi Cheng said Logeswaran and his acquaintance, who first met at a temple, had not seen each other since 2011.

Since then, Logeswaran would occasionally contact the acquaintance to borrow money.

In 2015, Logeswaran contacted the acquaintance and asked for a copy of his identity card and name card, claiming that he could register him as a transport contractor with the hotel that he was working for at the time.

After the acquaintance sent photographs of his IC and name card, Logeswaran did not contact him with any job opportunities with the hotel.

Instead, Logeswaran visited Alexandra Hospital and Changi General Hospital, as well as the polyclinics in Bedok, Bukit Merah, Geylang, Queenstown and Outram, on eight occasions between April 29, 2016, and March 6, 2018.

He gave his acquaintance’s IC number to the staff for registration.

Logeswaran then consulted the doctor for his back pain and was given medication.

Over the eight occasions, Logeswaran incurred bills totalling $421.74. The acquaintance, who received multiple letters informing him of the outstanding medical bills, notified the police.

Logeswaran had similarly impersonated his brother on nine occasions at the National University Hospital (NUH) between May 1, 2018, and Sept 16, 2019, and incurred bills totalling $945.35.

This included a $430 bill for an MRI scan on Sept 6, 2019.

After receiving bills from NUH, Logeswaran’s brother made a police report on Feb 10, 2020.

Logeswaran’s lawyer Danny Nah said in mitigation that his client suffered a slipped disc following a holiday in India, and required Tramadol to relieve his regular back pain.

Mr Nah said the primary motivation around Logeswaran’s offences involving the hospitals was to seek relief for the pain and not capital gains. He added that his client had various other health problems, including heart disease and diabetes.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw said while a fine may appear sufficient, given the amount in each charge involving cheating the hospitals was small, the totality of Logeswaran’s conduct justified a jail term.

The judge also said the various hospitals and polyclinics that Logeswaran had targeted accepted him in good faith, and noted that if they were to tighten their procedures following the offences, it would create a lot of inconvenience for genuine patients.

For each charge of cheating by personation, Logeswaran could have been jailed for up to five years and fined.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.