SINGAPORE- A doctor accused of outraging a patient's modesty told a district court on Thursday (Aug 22) that when he spoke to the woman's boyfriend after the consultation, the man did not mention anything about the alleged acts of molestation.

This contradicts the boyfriend's testimony in court earlier this week.

Taking the stand on the fourth day of the trial, Lui Weng Sun said the boyfriend had instead expressed his unhappiness that no chaperone was present in the consultation room when the doctor was examining the 24-year-old woman on Nov 6, 2017.

Lui, 46, a general practitioner, told District Judge Jasvender Kaur that the man then said he wanted a "jiao dai", which the doctor said he understood as possibly "hinting" for a monetary compensation.

The woman and her boyfriend cannot be named owing to a gag order to protect her identity.

Lui, who is married, was a doctor at Northeast Medical Group clinic in Jalan Tiga, near Old Airport Road, and the woman was seeking treatment for a runny nose, sore throat and fever.

He told the court he would ask for a chaperone or a woman assistant to be present only during "intimate" examinations or when the patient needs to undress.

Denying that he molested her, he said: "This is outrageous. I will never molest patients."

He is accused of touching the woman's breast in the clinic.

Responding to his lawyer Shashi Nathan, Lui said he could not "remember (the woman) at all".

But, he added, his medical notes state that the woman had "low grade fever" and a throat that was slightly red.

He denied asking the woman to lift her top and said he had no skin-to-skin contact with her.

His notes also showed the medicine he prescribed included cough syrup and painkillers, he added.

Lui said he was working at another clinic in Dawson Road, near Alexandra Road, later that day when he received a phone call from the Jalan Tiga clinic, during which the boyfriend accused the doctor of carrying out an "improper examination".

Lui, who was treating patients, told the man he would call him back after 9pm.

When he did so, the boyfriend expressed his unhappiness but did not mention anything about the alleged acts of molestation, said Lui.

The doctor admitted he had said "sorry" to the man but the apology was not for any wrongdoing. He told the court he had been taught to apologise first "over any unhappiness".

The trial will resume at a later date. Meanwhile, Lui is out on a $5,000 bail.

If convicted of molestation, he can be jailed for up to two years and fined or caned.