Indian-origin doctor charged with causing patient's death

 A 75-year-old Indian-origin doctor in Singapore is facing a criminal charge for causing death of his patient in 2014 by allegedly prescribing medicines without conducting necessary medical tests.

Haridass Rass, who is a general practitioner at Tekka Clinic Surgery in Little India shopping precinct, allegedly prescribed 10 tablets of methotrexate, a chemorapy nt and immune system suppressant to Savarimuthu Arul Xavier without first arranging for him to undergo necessary tests.

RE | UK Doctors' 110 Shoe Tribute To Deaths Caused By Air Pollution

dos was also t in line with established guidelines, reported Today newspaper on Tuesday, citing court documents. doctor, who has been in practise for 40 years, is also accused of giving patient an injection of dexamethasone, which is an anti-inflammatory steroid.

He also allegedly prescribed 10 tablets of prednisolone, used to treat inflammation, and 10 tablets of chlorpheniramine, an antihistamine, to Xavier. This is said to have caused patient to develop neutropenia and mucositis, leing to a fatal invasive fungal infection.

Neutropenia occurs when a person lacks a certain of white blood cell, which help to fight infections and mucositis is a condition when a person's mouth or gut becomes sore and inflamed  a common side effect of chemorapy for cancer. However, court documents did t state what kind of treatment Xavier was receiving from doctor when he died.

doctor was first charged in state courts on October 4 and is out on bail of SGD10,000 (USD 7,295). He will return to court on October 29 for a pre-trial conference, report said. He could be jailed for up to five years, fined or both if found guilty of crime.

RE | World Arthritis Day: Doctors Talk About Disease At AFOL