SINGAPORE
- With the S$8-figure being bandied about by some of his opponents
at election rallies, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan (picture)
clarified yesterday that the sum referred to his out-of-pocket
expenses, not the total bill, for his heart-bypass last
year.
The bulk
of his bill - S$25,000 for a week's stay in a Class A ward - was
paid for with his MediShield and Medisave, he said.
"I paid the normal bill, no special arrangement.
So all those lies about, oh because he's a minister, he got special
deals. It was cheap, only S$8! But why was it S$8, why was it so
affordable? Because I used the 3Ms!" he told
reporters before his walkabout in Woodlands yesterday
morning.
The 3Ms
refer to Medisave, MediShield and Medifund,
key components of Singapore's healthcare financing
system.
"So, yes,
I paid S$8 out of pocket. That was what I said but they
conveniently blocked out what I said, they said I paid S$8 for a
bill. Minister special.
"They did
not say so but they were hinting that the minister abused the
healthcare system for his own benefit. We never do. As ministers,
we pay our own bills," said Mr Khaw, the anchor minister for the
People's Action Party's (PAP) five-man team in Sembawang Group
Representation Constituency (GRC).
The team
is facing a challenge from a Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) team
led by Dr James Gomez.
Mr Khaw
also took aim at several of SDP's proposals on
healthcare.
He said
there is no need to raise the health budget to at least S$10
billion a year, as the SDP proposes, up from the current S$4
billion.
The
experience in other countries has shown that spending more on
healthcare does not lead to better outcomes, he added.
We have
achieved similar outcomes, and, in fact, in various indicators we
are even better. We are among the best in the world and we achieve
it with 4 per cent of GDP. So why do you want to move away from
that?
"Once you
raise the spending level, that becomes the minimum level. It only
grows from there, it doesn't drop from there," Mr Khaw
said.
While the
minister emphatises with residents' concerns over rising costs, he
said his aim is for healthcare to be affordable, not
cheap.
"How do
you achieve world-class healthcare which is also cheap? You know
that's not possible," Mr Khaw said.
With
Singapore having to spend more on healthcare as the population
ages, his priority is to ensure long-term care is available in the
community.
"The
ministries of Health all over the world are really ministries of
Illness. That is wrong, we should go back to basics, which is, we
are Ministry of Health," Mr Khaw said.
Instead,
he wants to build up community wellness programmes to encourage
Singaporeans to stay healthy.
The SDP
had also proposed funding the increase in the health budget by
cutting spending in defence and other areas.
Mr Khaw
said that doing so would directly impact the foundations of
Singapore's prosperity.
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110506-0000041/Cheap,-world-class-healthcare?-You-know-thats-not-possible--Khaw
