ban ineffective screening tests

the following is a letter in the online st forum:

Mar 19, 2011
Ban ineffective screening tests
I REFER to the reply from the Ministry of Health ("Why Medisave can't be used for all screening tests"; Thursday) to Mr Arthur Lim's letter ("Allow use of Medisave for more screening tests"; Monday).

In the name of medical ethics, the Ministry of Health should perhaps consider a ban on tests that are of questionable effectiveness when used as screening tools.

Going by the phenomenal growth of some medical centres, and the increasing complexity of some packages they offer, medical providers must be doing a roaring business.

With some packages costing as much as $9,000, could it be that a large proportion of tests in the packages are probably not recommended as screening tools? And if they are, why are they even allowed to be there? Shouldn't the public be protected from such practices?

Stephen Tan