Emotions ran high when Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who returned to Singapore from London last week, spoke on Sunday about the ordeal of his wife suffering a stroke there. The voice of the usually stoic Mr Lee cracked and the deep affection he has for his wife is clear.
When I was a journalist in the 80s, I had covered many overseas trips by Mr Lee who was then the Prime Minister. Mrs Lee, a role-model wife who always accompanied Mr Lee on such visits, would take meticulous care of Mr Lee's daily needs.
The anxiety felt by the 80-year-old Mr Lee is understandable when, during an overseas trip, he suddenly found himself having to attend to his wife who has always been by his side to take care of him. Fortunately, Mrs Lee has returned home for treatment and is now recovering.
Many people will testify to the torment of waiting for treatment in a long queue in an emergency as everyone hopes to receive immediate attention from doctors and nurses. The truth is, even in Singapore which boasts a fairly efficient health-care system, this is still a tall order.
It is not uncommon to hear the man in the street gripe about hospital services. Just imagine, even Mr Lee, given his status and prestige, was “neglected” at a public hospital in London. What would happen to an ordinary Singaporean？
However, Mrs Lee did get a CT scan earlier and the location of the blood clot was identified. On this account, we should still be thankful to the British side. The fact that the scan was carried out in the early hours shows that even though the health-care system in Britain faces serious structural problems - the result of an over-emphasis on welfare over the years - it can still mobilise resources to meet urgent needs.
In our case, this ability to marshal resources in an emergency is shown in swift reaction by hospitals here and SIA. In just 48 hours, a plane was turned into an “airborne hospital” and flown to London to bring Mrs Lee home for treatment.
This is, however, not a good assessment of the efficiency of our health-care system and we can't say with certainty that Singapore is well-equipped to respond to an emergency.
The litmus test of our health-care system lies in its ability to react quickly to a sudden “attack”。 How we handled the Sars outbreak in March this year would, I think, be a better gauge.
Every country will accord its leaders or other key members special treatment. This should not surprise anyone. For a true measure of the efficiency of a country's health-care system, what is more crucial is what kind of treatment the ordinary people get.
We should, of course, draw lessons from the dire straits welfare states find themselves in. A son of a friend of mine, who graduated from medicine from a British university and did his internship in a specialist hospital there, also noted that the former empire has lost its glory - its hospital equipment is not even comparable to ours.
The biggest problem is the shortage of funds, a result of the heavy burden of free health-care services on the nation. This observation is consistent with Mr Lee's.
Going beyond the limit is as bad as falling short. European nations, including Britain, have perhaps gone overboard in providing its citizens with free medical care, something which they now find impossible to reverse.
Singaporeans have no wish of seeing Singapore go down the wrong path. But they do often feel that the government has not done enough and can be more generous with its budget for health care.
Some measures were announced recently by Acting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to get public hospitals to cut costs and ensure costs remain affordable. The efforts are commendable and I truly hope our health-care system will work towards becoming more and more people-centred and efficient.
上周剛從倫敦回來的李光耀資政,談起夫人突然中風(fēng)的痛苦經(jīng)歷,禁不住哽咽,讓人看到這位鐵漢的柔情,也充分流露資政伉儷的鶼鰈情深。
筆者在80年代當(dāng)記者的時候,曾多次隨團(tuán)采訪資政（當(dāng)時為總理）的出國訪問,深知李夫人每次隨行,對總理的起居和健康總是關(guān)懷備至,是典型的賢妻良母。
這回,年屆八十的資政在出國中途,突然需要回頭照顧形影相隨數(shù)十年的老伴,那種情緒上的震撼是可想而知的。所幸李夫人已無大礙,并正在康復(fù)中。
緊急求醫(yī),排隊久等的煎熬,是許多人都有過的經(jīng)驗。任何人遇上緊急情況,都會希望醫(yī)院和醫(yī)生能立即施救,不過,即使在醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)效率頗高的新加坡,這也還是個很崇高的理想。
因此,我們也不時可以聽到許多民眾對醫(yī)院的不滿和投訴。試想,以李資政的地位和威望,在倫敦尚且受到公共醫(yī)院的“怠慢”,換成是一個普通新加坡人,結(jié)果又會是如何？
不過,李夫人終能提前接受腦部掃描,確定血塊所在。對此,我們還是應(yīng)該向英方說謝謝的。這件在三更半夜發(fā)生的事故卻也說明,英方是有能力調(diào)動當(dāng)?shù)蒯t(yī)療體系的資源應(yīng)急的,盡管他們的整個醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)正面對嚴(yán)重的結(jié)構(gòu)性問題,也就是長期實行過度醫(yī)療福利所帶來的后遺癥。
這種緊急調(diào)動資源的能力,也猶如新加坡的醫(yī)院和新航在接到通知后,火速行動,在48小時內(nèi)就安排好“空中醫(yī)院”飛到倫敦把李夫人接回國一樣。 因此,這不是衡量新加坡醫(yī)療體系效率的好標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。我們也無法因此斷言新加坡具備了應(yīng)付緊急狀況的能力。
新加坡醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)的真正考驗是面對突如其來的“襲擊”時,是否能迅速回應(yīng)。從這個角度來看,今年三四月間沙斯的爆發(fā),應(yīng)是更好的試金石。
每一個國家都會給它的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人或其他重要人物特別的照顧,這是不足為奇的。真正的差別,在于一般老百姓所能得到是怎樣的待遇。這才是一個國家的醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)的效率高低的試金石。
不過,我們的確也應(yīng)吸取福利國當(dāng)前面對困境的教訓(xùn)。筆者的一個朋友的孩子,畢業(yè)于英國某大學(xué)醫(yī)科,在當(dāng)?shù)貙？漆t(yī)院實習(xí)過,也觀察到舊帝國已失去往昔的光芒,醫(yī)院里的設(shè)備還不如新加坡。
個中的原因就是財政拮據(jù),免費醫(yī)療對國家的負(fù)荷實在太大了。這同資政的觀察是完全相符的。
然而,所謂過猶不及,包括英國在內(nèi)的歐洲國家,或許在給國民的醫(yī)療福利上的確都做過頭了,因此形成了積重難返之勢。新加坡人不期望我們這個小國步上它們的后塵,但總覺得政府還做得不夠,還可以在醫(yī)療開支預(yù)算方面稍微慷慨些。
最近,新任衛(wèi)生部代部長許文遠(yuǎn)亮出了一些新的招數(shù),要公共醫(yī)院盡量降低成本,減輕百姓的醫(yī)療費負(fù)擔(dān),這種親民的做法是絕對值得稱許的。希望我們的醫(yī)療體系能不斷朝這種親民和高效率的方向邁進(jìn)。
When I was a journalist in the 80s, I had covered many overseas trips by Mr Lee who was then the Prime Minister. Mrs Lee, a role-model wife who always accompanied Mr Lee on such visits, would take meticulous care of Mr Lee's daily needs.
The anxiety felt by the 80-year-old Mr Lee is understandable when, during an overseas trip, he suddenly found himself having to attend to his wife who has always been by his side to take care of him. Fortunately, Mrs Lee has returned home for treatment and is now recovering.
Many people will testify to the torment of waiting for treatment in a long queue in an emergency as everyone hopes to receive immediate attention from doctors and nurses. The truth is, even in Singapore which boasts a fairly efficient health-care system, this is still a tall order.
It is not uncommon to hear the man in the street gripe about hospital services. Just imagine, even Mr Lee, given his status and prestige, was “neglected” at a public hospital in London. What would happen to an ordinary Singaporean？
However, Mrs Lee did get a CT scan earlier and the location of the blood clot was identified. On this account, we should still be thankful to the British side. The fact that the scan was carried out in the early hours shows that even though the health-care system in Britain faces serious structural problems - the result of an over-emphasis on welfare over the years - it can still mobilise resources to meet urgent needs.
In our case, this ability to marshal resources in an emergency is shown in swift reaction by hospitals here and SIA. In just 48 hours, a plane was turned into an “airborne hospital” and flown to London to bring Mrs Lee home for treatment.
This is, however, not a good assessment of the efficiency of our health-care system and we can't say with certainty that Singapore is well-equipped to respond to an emergency.
The litmus test of our health-care system lies in its ability to react quickly to a sudden “attack”。 How we handled the Sars outbreak in March this year would, I think, be a better gauge.
Every country will accord its leaders or other key members special treatment. This should not surprise anyone. For a true measure of the efficiency of a country's health-care system, what is more crucial is what kind of treatment the ordinary people get.
We should, of course, draw lessons from the dire straits welfare states find themselves in. A son of a friend of mine, who graduated from medicine from a British university and did his internship in a specialist hospital there, also noted that the former empire has lost its glory - its hospital equipment is not even comparable to ours.
The biggest problem is the shortage of funds, a result of the heavy burden of free health-care services on the nation. This observation is consistent with Mr Lee's.
Going beyond the limit is as bad as falling short. European nations, including Britain, have perhaps gone overboard in providing its citizens with free medical care, something which they now find impossible to reverse.
Singaporeans have no wish of seeing Singapore go down the wrong path. But they do often feel that the government has not done enough and can be more generous with its budget for health care.
Some measures were announced recently by Acting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to get public hospitals to cut costs and ensure costs remain affordable. The efforts are commendable and I truly hope our health-care system will work towards becoming more and more people-centred and efficient.
上周剛從倫敦回來的李光耀資政,談起夫人突然中風(fēng)的痛苦經(jīng)歷,禁不住哽咽,讓人看到這位鐵漢的柔情,也充分流露資政伉儷的鶼鰈情深。
筆者在80年代當(dāng)記者的時候,曾多次隨團(tuán)采訪資政（當(dāng)時為總理）的出國訪問,深知李夫人每次隨行,對總理的起居和健康總是關(guān)懷備至,是典型的賢妻良母。
這回,年屆八十的資政在出國中途,突然需要回頭照顧形影相隨數(shù)十年的老伴,那種情緒上的震撼是可想而知的。所幸李夫人已無大礙,并正在康復(fù)中。
緊急求醫(yī),排隊久等的煎熬,是許多人都有過的經(jīng)驗。任何人遇上緊急情況,都會希望醫(yī)院和醫(yī)生能立即施救,不過,即使在醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)效率頗高的新加坡,這也還是個很崇高的理想。
因此,我們也不時可以聽到許多民眾對醫(yī)院的不滿和投訴。試想,以李資政的地位和威望,在倫敦尚且受到公共醫(yī)院的“怠慢”,換成是一個普通新加坡人,結(jié)果又會是如何？
不過,李夫人終能提前接受腦部掃描,確定血塊所在。對此,我們還是應(yīng)該向英方說謝謝的。這件在三更半夜發(fā)生的事故卻也說明,英方是有能力調(diào)動當(dāng)?shù)蒯t(yī)療體系的資源應(yīng)急的,盡管他們的整個醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)正面對嚴(yán)重的結(jié)構(gòu)性問題,也就是長期實行過度醫(yī)療福利所帶來的后遺癥。
這種緊急調(diào)動資源的能力,也猶如新加坡的醫(yī)院和新航在接到通知后,火速行動,在48小時內(nèi)就安排好“空中醫(yī)院”飛到倫敦把李夫人接回國一樣。 因此,這不是衡量新加坡醫(yī)療體系效率的好標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。我們也無法因此斷言新加坡具備了應(yīng)付緊急狀況的能力。
新加坡醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)的真正考驗是面對突如其來的“襲擊”時,是否能迅速回應(yīng)。從這個角度來看,今年三四月間沙斯的爆發(fā),應(yīng)是更好的試金石。
每一個國家都會給它的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人或其他重要人物特別的照顧,這是不足為奇的。真正的差別,在于一般老百姓所能得到是怎樣的待遇。這才是一個國家的醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)的效率高低的試金石。
不過,我們的確也應(yīng)吸取福利國當(dāng)前面對困境的教訓(xùn)。筆者的一個朋友的孩子,畢業(yè)于英國某大學(xué)醫(yī)科,在當(dāng)?shù)貙？漆t(yī)院實習(xí)過,也觀察到舊帝國已失去往昔的光芒,醫(yī)院里的設(shè)備還不如新加坡。
個中的原因就是財政拮據(jù),免費醫(yī)療對國家的負(fù)荷實在太大了。這同資政的觀察是完全相符的。
然而,所謂過猶不及,包括英國在內(nèi)的歐洲國家,或許在給國民的醫(yī)療福利上的確都做過頭了,因此形成了積重難返之勢。新加坡人不期望我們這個小國步上它們的后塵,但總覺得政府還做得不夠,還可以在醫(yī)療開支預(yù)算方面稍微慷慨些。
最近,新任衛(wèi)生部代部長許文遠(yuǎn)亮出了一些新的招數(shù),要公共醫(yī)院盡量降低成本,減輕百姓的醫(yī)療費負(fù)擔(dān),這種親民的做法是絕對值得稱許的。希望我們的醫(yī)療體系能不斷朝這種親民和高效率的方向邁進(jìn)。