Stupid Singaporeans Part II

Patient's husband came to collect medicine and wants us to send bill to his place. Claims that that was what he has been doing all these while and said he has no money. If this is not the first time, then how come he does not know upfront payment is required at the pharmacy? When I explained to him it is a new rule that we have to cap all absconded medication at $20, he raised his voice saying how can a government hospital do this.

Well, the reason is simple, precisely because we are a restructured hospital we need to make sure our finances break even every financial year. If all restructured hospitals keep writing off bad debts and going into deficit, we can close down all restructured hospitals and force everybody to go private hospitals. We are essentially running a business and although not targeted at earning huge profits, I stress, we still need to break even. If you have no money to pay, then maybe it is better for you to go to charitable hospices or hospitals such as Ren Ci.

And I am sick of people asking me why medication is not subisidised. The hospital does not make the decision on which medication to subsidise. The government does. The next time you wonder why certain medication is not subsidised by the government pls write to your minister in parliament (MP) for an explanation.

In addition, stop asking us stupid questions like why is there an increase in the price of medication. Hospitals do not increase price of medication for no good reasons. Most of the time hospitals bears the cost of annual inflation. My institution only does a price overhaul every 10-15 yrs which to my economic sense is just plain silly. A price overhaul should be done every 5 yrs to make sure medication cost does not lag behind inflation excessively.

Second main reason for price increment is simply because manufacturers sell us at a higher price. If they sell us at a higher price we definitely have to pass on the cost to patients. We cannot be selling medication at a loss. Singaporeans got to stop equating restructured (aka government) hospitals with charitable hospitals. We are not the same.