National Rally Speech - Singapore healthcare system

This blog is born out of the collective interests of a community most keen to discuss, debate or just say something about the issue of healthcare in Singapore. The recent National Day rally speech delivered by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delves into the subject and raises salient concerns that, we feel, all Singaporeans and interest groups in the healthcare sector should be concerned about.

To present a key points:

• The government is working on a step-down approach of hospital care by cascading care to patients from acute hospitals to community hospitals. The 'twinning of hospitals' has it that a patient who is recovering from treatment in the former will be transferred to the 'sister' community hospital nearby, or literally next-door, where slow medicine is given to reduce the gap to recovery
• The 3M (Medisave, MediShield, Medifund) system is expanded such that Medisave now covers long-term outpatient treatment, MediShield provides higher insurance payouts and Medifund gives more help to the needy to clear outstanding hospital bills
• More (eg. more twinned hospitals) is not the solution to cope with the medical needs of a burgeoning ageing population and low-income families struggling to pay medical bills; the system needs to be structured and adapted properly
• Medical workers involved in controlling the community spread of H1N1--their efforts are lauded in Parliament
  

PM Lee's message is sombre, real and it leaves areas of questions for all of us--as if, there is yet a sense of closure.

• H1N1: there are daily reports of H1N1 infection and/or death cases--how long will it take for people to ride over the epidemic wave, like what happened with SARS? Or is infiltration into the community so rampant and deep that, perhaps, there may be no way we will be able to rid of it?
• Hospitals-twinning programme: the filtering of medical care reduces medical costs for the families and frees up beds in acute hospitals. Exactly how effective is this model of hospital recuperation care? Are medical workers from VWO hospitals (Ren Ci, St. Andrew's) sufficiently equipped and trained to handle patient cases fresh from surgery?
• Citizenry participation: To what extent can a government influence, even control or dictate terms on, how home care for the elderly should be run? Is it fair for a government to impose on caregiving in the privacy of home spaces? How receptive will people be in adopting an attitudinal change in [improving] their lifestyles?

 For full details of the National Day Rally's speech on healthcare, visit the article on Asia One here.

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