Khoo Teck Puat Hospital is now open in Yishun, so Singaporeans
living in the North should be happy with the ruling party. The
hospital serving the medical needs of virtually everyone in the
north from Ang Mo Kio to Yishun, from Sembawang to Woodlands and
even SengKang. The PAP government has promise us this Hospital, it
was first announced as an election promise by the PAP in the 2001
general elections. Finally we got it after 9 years! They delivered
as Promised.
http://www.geraldtan.com/medaffairs/hospitals-jgh_ngh_ygh.html
From Channel News Asia -
Keep politics out of healthcare and minimise
market distortions so as to create a sustainable healthcare system
— this was the Singapore Health Minister’s prescription at the
Healthcare in Asia conference.
Governments the world over are dealing with having to keep
healthcare costs down, and yet providing quality care.
In Singapore, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the principle is
to keep to the basics. This means recognising that healthcare can
never be free, making sure people take charge of their own health,
and keeping politics out.
He said: "The more politicians do not speak the truth. For example,
like healthcare is free, vote for me, I will give you free
medicine. You distort the market because you do not allow facts and
rational thinking to surface.
"I gave a few examples of how healthcare need not fail. Not that it
is possible to achieve a perfect market, but as a stretched target
I think we must be clear which direction we must be going.
"Today all our healthcare systems are heavily distorted, Singapore
included. But at least if you know the direction forward, I think
each time whoever is in charge, you try not to bring in new
distortion and try to remove as much distortion as you can."
Vijay Vaitheeswaran, health correspondent, The Economist said: "The
thing to remember about Singapore is that it has an extraordinary
value conscious health system with a relatively low spending per
GDP and a high contribution by the individual.
"These things, sometimes called "Skin in the game", mean that
individuals actually see the effects of cost increases and they are
more likely to make smarter choices about what healthcare they want
and what they don’t want.
"So I think relative to other countries in the region, Singapore is
well poised to manage health inflation."
Singapore’s total healthcare spending is currently less than four
per cent of its GDP, which is a relatively low figure compared to
other countries. But Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he expects
the figure to continue to go up, especially with Singapore’s ageing
population.
He added that it would be a remarkable achievement if Singapore
could sustain its healthcare spending at a single digit percentage
of its GDP.
