BIG BUSINESS: Six in 10 GPs offer aesthetic treatments. The business is estimated to be worth $200 million a year. -- PHOTO: RAFFLES HOSPITAL

The draft regulations, which were sent to all doctors last week, say they need only a year in surgery and training in liposuction to do the procedure, which has led to fatalities in some countries.

The president of the Singapore Association of Plastic Surgeons, Dr Walter Tan, deplored what he called the 'piecemeal approach' of the proposed regulations.

He said it 'makes a mockery of the comprehensive way that bona fide plastic surgeons are trained'.

He added: 'Any medical practitioner interested in doing major aesthetic procedures and operations should undergo the training process that is required of every plastic surgeon.'

That includes four to five years of specialist training after medical school.

Dr Woffles Wu, a prominent plastic surgeon in private practice, was fuming at the proposed rules. 'It is not a matter of protecting turf, but about doing the right thing. Liposuction is surgery,' he said.

'What is the message the Government is giving to the public and to doctors? Is it saying that in Singapore, any doctor can do anything?'

Some GPs, though, were happy with the decision, including Dr Chew Khek Kah, vice-president of the 150-member Society of Aesthetic Medicine.

The GP, who runs an aesthetic clinic in Orchard Road, has done 250 to 300 liposuctions since May 2005 after three days of hands-on training in Italy.

Speaking for the society, he said the ministry proposal 'underscores our commitment to patient safety first, while being fair to the medical practitioners involved in liposuction'.

Most GPs perform relatively simple procedures, under local anaesthetic. Patients who want large amounts of fat removed usually go to plastic surgeons, he said.

Dr Ben Yim, another GP who has been doing liposuction for more than two years, said he constantly upgrades his skill by attending conferences on the latest techniques.

He does not have the one-year surgical training, but as a doctor with more than 100 liposuctions under his belt, would likely be allowed to continue following a review of his record.

He said: 'We usually do about 1 litre around the abdomen. For most people, this cuts 3 to 4cm off the waistline.'

The ministry's move to regulate the surgery reflects its worry over the mushrooming aesthetic business here which is estimated to be worth $200 million a year.

Six in 10 GPs here offer some aesthetic treatment.

However, even a plastic surgeon working at a public hospital was upset by the ministry's decision. He said: 'We're dealing with normal healthy people. There is no margin for error. The ministry should protect the public.'

The proposed rules include a provision that doctors are not allowed to perform liposuction until 15 days after first talking about the surgery with prospective customers - a rule that exists in France.

The surgeons wondered why Singapore followed the French lead in mandating a cooling-off period, but not the country's provision that says liposuction can be done only by plastic surgeons.

SALMA KHALIK