Squandering Tax Payers' Money

They are the bane of the healthcare system in Singapore. They come to restructured hospitals and polyclinics wanting tons of medicine some of which are just health supplements or cosmetic products; wanting A class treatment when they are too cheapskate to go to private hospitals. Yes, I am talking about the civil servants. All civil servants hold what we call the civil service card (CSC), and they get free healthcare services in restructured hospitals and polyclinics. Well, at least for the old timers on the pension scheme healthcare services are absolutely free for them. The newer generation of civil servants are on what we called the co-payment scheme; they have to pay a fixed percentage of the medical bills. Although things were slightly better with the co-payment scheme, we still have a large number of people on the pension scheme and they are the true bane.

Allow me to list down all the disgusting things those on pension scheme had done.

1. They collect the whole entire years' worth of vitamins, and health supplements eg. evening primrose oil. I am not denying patients who really need supplements because of poor health, but I have patients who told me they take the vitamin E capsules because they want to use the vitamin E oil for cosmetics purpose; basically they open up the capsule and use the oil for application on the face. In addition, when doctors prescribe vitamins for them, they will always request for the most expensive brand available. When one of my colleagues tried explaining that we cannot give that particular brand to him, he retorted saying, "Why can't I have it?! The government owes me." I was really embarrassed because my colleague, a Malaysian, quirked her eyebrows at me and asked, "Your government doesn't give salaries to the civil servants?" This is one of the many instances that makes me ashamed to be a Singaporean.

2. Some of these patients also abuse the system by getting different specialists to prescribe the same list of over-the-counter medicines. When you add it all together, they have probably collected more than 1 yrs' worth of medicine in just a few months' time. What is worse we have staff seeing these patients selling the medicine they collected to other people. Some sell near the MRT stations, and there was even one that set up stall in Toa Payoh. The one in Toa Payoh was actually caught on camera and a news report came out in the New Paper a few months back. I mean they are seriously "very smart". Collecting all these medicine and then selling at a lower -than-market price because no matter what price they sell, they earn a 100% profit. Okay... my bro's reading this while I'm typing and he says there can never be 100% profit by virtue of the fact that profit is calculated by taking selling price minus cost price divided by the cost price. If the patient's cost price is zero, in theory profit is infinite. (^o^)

3. They think holding the CSC mean everybody must kow-tow to them. They think they deserved to be treated with more respect than other patients. They complain that services are slow and they had to wait about half a day in the hospital just to see the doctor and then collect medicine. Well, what is there to complain about something that is free of charge? I can understand paying class (private) patients complaining. After all, they pay the full price so it is natural for them to expect timely services. If those CSC patients without serious illness (meaning those who only come to collect vitamins etc) stop coming to clog up the scarce hospital resources we can probably give other patients a much more personalised care. I mean they can always go to the polyclinics, or if they prefered a hospital setting they are most welcomed to go to private hospitals. I forgot, they are probably cheapskates.

I know it is not right of me to think in this manner, but I really wish they will just drop dead and stop giving us so much problems. I mean they are nothing but pests squandering the tax dollars when the tax dollars can be put to better use for patients on the Health Services Development Program (HSDP). I can still remember the time when the HSDP funding for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) ran dry and how some patients who benefited from the HSDP funding were at a lost when they realise they can no longer afford the treatment. I don't mind my tax dollars going to these patients, but I absolutely abhore to know that my tax dollars are squandered by the CSC patients.