a sixth sense cannot make up for a complete lack of common sense
the resident
-best known as May Ching-
-09/01/1990-
-19 years 1.2 months-
-mugger/slacker/writer-
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009, 9:34 pm
Today's unfortunate victim of my ire is the private medical sector of Singapore.Recently, my cousin got admitted to Raffles Hospital at Bugis with a stomach complaint but she checked out yesterday night because of the astounding medical fee.
Since the place is a private hospital, it cost S$2,200 just for one night, and a scan. Well, if you pay this much for medical treatment, surely you expect stellar medical care. People actually come to Singapore for medical treatment.
But nooooo. Not only did the docs fail to cure my cousin (who just left for Malaysia today for better treatment), they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. They just kept on giving her jabs. Throughout her one-night stay, only one doctor came to examine her (everything else was handled by nurses) and he didn't even try to diagnose her. Not even a question about what kind of pain was being experienced. Even an amateur like me whose medical knowledge consists of 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy know the different likely causes of stomach pain like ulcers, wrenched gut, parasites, et cetera.
Surely it is quite obvious, even at this early stage, to see this is clearly sub-standard medical attention, the kind which one would expect to find in a Third World country government hospital with overworked nurses and indifferent doctors. But instead, this is happening right here in Singapore, folks.
It was in the papers some time ago that Singapore is attracting a growing number of 'medical tourists, people who come here to obtain treatment (which is advisable given Singapore keeps pulling all the luminaries of the medical world here). From what I've seen, this doesn't look like the outstanding healthcare which is so glorified.
Even with this level of care, the doctors were against my cousin's checking out because they wanted to keep her in for observation. My ass. They probably weren't making enough money from ordinary Singaporeans (curse Medisave!) so they need to bleed foreigners dry. The hospital looks luxurious enough. The lobby looked exactly like a hotel lobby, the only thing that gave it away was the large sign hanging overhead which read 'Raffles Hospital'. Ironically, as we left the place, there was a bevy of plaques on display at the reception given to the staff by grateful patients thanking the hospital for its 'excellent' and 'outstanding' care. Keh.
I would go on to what else we discussed but there's a saying about not airing one's dirty linen in public.
Labels: singapore, substandard medical care