Blindly prolonging life is not the
solution: PM
Derrick A Paulo
[email protected]
His health minister broke the silence last year, and now Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong is taking the dialogue forward.
.
In a speech to medical professionals from Singapore and abroad, Mr
Lee identified end-of-life care and how people are medically
treated in their final stages as key factors in determining how
well the health system works.
.
In this regard, Singapore will avoid taking the same route as some
other countries, such as the United States, in the management of
issues of death.
.
"The practice of medicine has its limits. It takes wisdom to know
these limits and the true needs of the dying. Heedless pursuit of
'pure' medicine to prolong life, without regard to cost or the
wishes of the patients, cannot be sustained in the long term, not
even in the wealthiest countries," he said.
.
"This is a serious problem plaguing the US healthcare system today.
Alas, fixing it is politically difficult. We must not get into such
a situation."
.
While different countries have taken different approaches to
healthcare, "their experience shows that more resources do not
necessarily improve healthcare outcomes", said Mr Lee, who received
an honorary fellowship from the Academy of Medicine last
night.
.
Hence, he said, in Singapore, "while we will invest more in
healthcare, it is more important to get the economics of healthcare
right". "The reality is that demand for healthcare is unlimited and
has to be rationed," he said.
.
"Problems are compounded as populations age and vast amounts of
high-tech resources are marshalled to manage the last few weeks of
the terminally ill, delivering poor quality of life to the patients
at very high cost to society," he added.
.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan first talked about the need for a
national conversation on the dying process last October.
.
Then, he said he would look into the legislation governing the
Advance Medical Directive, which allows adults to refuse
extraordinary life-sustaining treatment for a terminal illness, as
part of his ministry's five-year plan.
.
Other healthcare priorities include the management of chronic
diseases, which Mr Lee also mentioned last night as part of the
"new and creative approa-ches" Singapore should explore to improve
its market-based system of pricing and co-payment.
.
Maximising the benefits of IT is one such approach. For example,
the National Healthcare Group has introduced tele- radiology at its
polyclinics, where X-ray images are sent to Bangalore to be
read.
.
This has reduced prices and cut turnaround times "dramatically from
two to three days previously to an hour or less", said Mr Lee, who
stressed: "We must press on with such initiatives."
.
He identified tele-pathology, which allows doctors who study
disease processes and their causes to use telecommunications to
transmit data and images, as one possibility.
.
The challenge is in training and recruiting people for the
healthcare system. The Health Ministry projects that Singapore will
need over 2,000 more doctors by 2015. Currently, Singapore produces
about 230 doctors each year. In 2012, this number will be 300. But
it will not be enough.
.
"Given our small local talent pool and competing needs from other
sectors in the economy, there are limits to how far we can expand
the local supply," said Mr Lee.
.
"Increasingly, we will have to recruit medical talent from abroad.
We must be open minded in accepting such imported talent, while
maintaining medical standards and helping foreign trained doctors
to adapt to conditions in Singapore."
Blindly prolonging life is not the solution: PM
Derrick A Paulo
[email protected]
His health minister broke the silence last year, and now Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong is taking the dialogue forward.
.
In a speech to medical professionals from Singapore and abroad, Mr
Lee identified end-of-life care and how people are medically
treated in their final stages as key factors in determining how
well the health system works.
.
In this regard, Singapore will avoid taking the same route as some
other countries, such as the United States, in the management of
issues of death.
.
"The practice of medicine has its limits. It takes wisdom to know
these limits and the true needs of the dying. Heedless pursuit of
'pure' medicine to prolong life, without regard to cost or the
wishes of the patients, cannot be sustained in the long term, not
even in the wealthiest countries," he said.
.
"This is a serious problem plaguing the US healthcare system today.
Alas, fixing it is politically difficult. We must not get into such
a situation."
.
While different countries have taken different approaches to
healthcare, "their experience shows that more resources do not
necessarily improve healthcare outcomes", said Mr Lee, who received
an honorary fellowship from the Academy of Medicine last
night.
.
Hence, he said, in Singapore, "while we will invest more in
healthcare, it is more important to get the economics of healthcare
right". "The reality is that demand for healthcare is unlimited and
has to be rationed," he said.
.
"Problems are compounded as populations age and vast amounts of
high-tech resources are marshalled to manage the last few weeks of
the terminally ill, delivering poor quality of life to the patients
at very high cost to society," he added.
----- from TODAY, 20/7/07 -----
Talk from a former cancer patient, LHL! $$$$ matters, where is
compassion? What do Academy of Medicine base on to award him
honorary fellowship?
