[suntag881]

Quote:

Khaw apologises
by Hoe Yeen Nie and Claire Huang
05:55 AM Dec 22, 2009

SINGAPORE - Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has apologised for the over-crowding situation at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).

In his blog yesterday, he said the hospital's Accident and Emergency department is always packed. Several times a week, TTSH even has to divert civil defence ambulances to other hospitals. "It is no fun waiting for a bed, in a crowded room or in a corridor; I am truly sorry," wrote the minister.

The crush at TTSH has, in turn, spread the over-crowding situation to hospitals like Changi General Hospital and Singapore General Hospital.

Many patients are from Woodlands and Yishun in the north, and Mr Khaw hopes the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital will ease the load when it opens.

"We are all looking forward to this, especially the colleagues in TTSH and other hospitals. They have been wonderful in putting up with the extra workload, without complaints. I thank the patients too for their patience and understanding," he said.

On hindsight, the Ministry of Health (MOH) made a mistake by not building the new hospital two years earlier.

"I am determined not to repeat this mistake in the west," said the minister. Hence, planning for the Jurong General Hospital was "activated" last year, with the management team "working enthusiastically to build a hassle-free healthcare system ... ".

Major changes are also coming up, especially in the allied health professions, with legislation having to keep up with these. After dental hygienists and advanced practice nurses, optometrists and opticians, Mr Khaw is "now getting ready" to go to Parliament again to register physiotherapists, occupational therapists and other allied health professionals.

The MOH has also taken steps to beef up manpower as well as widen staff skill sets.

So far, more than 1,200 people are enrolled in nursing courses in polytechnics while the Bachelor of Nursing course at the National University of Singapore is expected to see some 200 students.

"The nursing profession has regained its popularity," said Mr Khaw.

Hope he looks at waiting time for polyclinics as well. Having to wait 1.5 hr+ to see a doctor is no fun when one is sick.

[3kn3ca]

Apologies accepted, at least it did not take him 30 years to realise his mistake.

[bilaprem]

3kn3ca wrote:

Apologies accepted, at least it did not take him 30 years to realise his mistake.

Its an honest mistake.

[koxinga]

Ministers don't apologies altruistically; they don't wake up one day and realised that they made 'honest' mistakes.

Something must have happened to prompt him to make the remarks. What happened is anyone's guess.

[kuaynaldo]

the opposition brought this up in the past 2 election rallies. Until last year then start, and now apologize. Smells like damage control and Election coming!!! (probably finishing before or just after election, superb timing )

[NMSS_2]

how come he never apologies for expensive hospital fees?

[tequilablue82]

isnt he the one who told us to send our parents to JB old folks home? dont remember him saying sorry for that..

[The_Cutting_Edge]

NMSS_2 wrote:

how come he never apologies for expensive hospital fees?

He would say that the Means Testing is in place to take care of that issue. Next Please.

[solidghost]

koxinga wrote:

Ministers don't apologies altruistically; they don't wake up one day and realised that they made 'honest' mistakes.

Something must have happened to prompt him to make the remarks. What happened is anyone's guess.

I am only guessing but is it that elections are coming?

[Tuakong]

What? only an apology (though somewhat belated)....what about a bow followed by resignation? Or izit we only get to see such humble gestures when GE is just round the corner?

Will camp here and buy popcorn....what's next?

[StarSeven]

tequilablue82 wrote:

isnt he the one who told us to send our parents to JB old folks home? dont remember him saying sorry for that..

He didn't apologize for that, he merely said that it was a suggestion.

[octacon]

kuaynaldo wrote:

the opposition brought this up in the past 2 election rallies. Until last year then start, and now apologize. Smells like damage control and Election coming!!! (probably finishing before or just after election, superb timing )

Amazing , you remember more than I do. So many damage control going on now , election in april?

[acvision]

NMSS_2 wrote:

how come he never apologies for expensive hospital fees?

his salary depends on it? *punt intended

[zoossh]

by building more hospitals will not solve the bottleneck. everything revolves around logistics and that means cost. beds and facilities are no doubt impt to patients and the healthcare workers but you still need more doctors, more nurses and more caregivers on top of more beds. u solve the bed issues, the rest are still to come. u shift the load to other hospitals, they can't cope either.

singaporeans often are tight to work with little time to provide caregiving, unlike other places where there is usually 1-2 family members able to spare the time to go to hosp to do those things. and instead of assisting in caregiving, patient's relative undoubtly are part of the workload to handle and understandably anyone whose relatives are admitted will behave so, but esp if they are not occupied in caregiving but feel they should be more concerned or involved.

and just like any other occupations, in order to cope with increasing healthcare demands, importing of foreign manpower comes in, and that again will have its own problems. and instead of solving all these ground logistic problem, more effort and time is spent on audits or policies that are "supposed" to be more "efficient" using the same or reduced resources. but with all those things, what is the government attitude towards subsidies? as per other aspect of community work, the gov believes in self-reliance and as such public healthcare are geared to compete like a business while still trying to offer some form of subsidies to please the public. it works negatively on all sides - lucrative circles are given more manpower, better working environment and better returns, whereas bad working environment with paper thin manpower runs dry and dryer, becoming a vicious cycle.

the way the subsidies are given is such that minimal manpower are invested such that they run at peak at all time and the only way it can serve keep the output continuously is that patients have to queue and wait, and forming a constant pool of workload (and more money) with no breathing space. a little cut down in average waiting time will require folds of increase of manpower and is not proportional, which is why this is not going to change until there is dramatic change in the attitude of the policymakers, which is not likely in years to come. there will certainly be promises made. there will be areas improved. but the bottleneck - is often and always being ignored, and will remain so.

on the other hand, we see the other end of medical subsidies given out indiscriminately in other countries. some ppl do abuses it - others have to pay for it - but very often people only sit on their side of fence without seeing the whole picture. if someone sue for millions, ultimately the industry will need its own insurance and things becomes expensive. likewise how are u going to ensure that money is not going to be wasted on a diabetic who defies instructions on diet and medications.

a tightly regulated but down to earth healthcare system takes more than a minister who pleases the public. there is a whole load of things to settle, and which are mostly among the first to be denied. i still think increase of hardware facilities are good. but i've no confidence in the "hassle-free" healthcare system which i dun quite understand if it means hassle free to patients, hassle free to healthcare team, or hassle free to adminstration and management.

[Inix]

NMSS_2 wrote:

how come he never apologies for expensive hospital fees?

Actually, hospital fees are relatively decent as compared to 1st world countries. Whats not decent is the chronic healthcare management.