ST Forum 1 May 2007
I WENT to the Travellers' Health and Vaccination Clinic at Tan
Tock Seng Hospital for a Yellow Fever vaccination recently. The
charge was $130.20, compared to just $15 for the same vaccination I
had at the same clinic 10 years ago. This is an increase of 768 per
cent or a 24 per cent compounded increase per annum.
The clinic was furnished lavishly with leather sofas, leather
chairs, paintings on the walls, flowers in vases, etc, like a
five-star hotel.
The same vaccination costs about HK$200 (S$39), A$50 (S$63) and 35
euros (S$72) in Hong Kong, Australia and Ireland, respectively. Why
has the cost of vaccination increased by so much over the last 10
years, when inflation in Singapore was less than 2 per cent per
annum?
When I paid the $130.20 fee, the staff
gave me a brochure and said that if I had a platinum credit card, I
would receive a 12 per cent discount for health
screening.
Why do the more affluent who qualify for a platinum card get a
discount of 12 per cent, whereas the lower income has to pay 13.6
per cent more, in a government restructured hospital?
Is this not, in a way, like reverse means testing - the rich pay
less, the poor pay more?
Leong Sze Hian
Another help the poor scheme?
