THERE is an element of irony in Monday's letters ("Address issue of doctors leaving the public sector" by Ms Ada Chan Siew Foen, and "Polyclinics doing the best they can" by Mr Rajasegaran Ramasamy).
The first called for the Government to do more to retain doctors in the public sector, while the second praised the Community Health Assist Scheme for enabling Singaporeans to consult private general practitioners (GPs) at subsidised prices, and encouraged elderly patients to take advantage of the scheme and be treated at participating GP clinics.
Clearly, doctors in the private sector can and do contribute to the health of the nation.
As the Government undertakes a review of the health-care system, perhaps it is timely to examine more critically, without any preconceived notions or biases, how Singaporeans can benefit from better engagement of the private sector, where almost half of fully registered medical practitioners practise.
Yes, the public sector needs its fair share of medical talent, but creating and reinforcing deep chasms between the public and private sectors is unhelpful in optimising our already overstrained health-care system.
Needlessly competing for manpower by offering ever higher salaries runs the risk of wage spirals that hurt lower-income Singaporeans even more.
The Community Health Assist Scheme is a very good start to harnessing the resources and talent in the private sector to benefit Singaporeans, and expansion of the concept into specialist care should be the next step.
Jeremy Lim (Dr)
ST Forum, 3 Apr 2013
Address issue of doctors leaving the public sector
I AM heartened to read of the positive response by the health and education ministries ("Measures in place to boost health-care staffing"; last Thursday).
Well-trained local medical doctors, dentists and nurses are real assets and benefit the public health-care sector.
Increasing the workforce not only helps to bring down waiting times for patients but also ensures uniform standards in the quality of professional medical care.
However, the persistent problem of experienced public health-care doctors and dentists leaving to go into the private sector needs to be carefully monitored and resolved by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
How is the MOH tackling the outflow of health-care professionals to the private sector?
Also, how will the MOH ensure that future batches of locally trained medical doctors and dentists stay committed and are retained in the public sector, so that there are no shortages?
It takes years to train health-care professionals.
Their work-life balance needs to be adequately addressed so that the public health-care sector has a sustainable pool of experienced staff to meet the needs of an ageing population.
Ada Chan Siew Foen (Ms)
ST Forum, 1 Apr 2013
Polyclinics doing the best they can
I CAN understand the frustration faced by Mr Lim Lai Huat while waiting for his blood test ("Improve service at Geylang Polyclinic"; Forum Online, last Thursday).
This phenomenon is not peculiar to Geylang Polyclinic.
As a regular visitor to several polyclinics, such as those in Hougang and Sengkang, I believe the level of service provided by the polyclinics is acceptable and commendable.
Polyclinics are usually centrally located and hence, space is limited. Expecting all patients to get a seat while they wait their turn is not only unfeasible but an unrealistic target for polyclinics to meet.
The design of the polyclinic must take into consideration parameters such as the optimal patient load during peak periods, after which the space for common areas and waiting areas is determined.
To cut down on the waiting times, elderly patients should take advantage of the Community Health Assist Scheme, where the participating general-practitioner clinics, located islandwide and near their homes, provide treatment for chronic illnesses at affordable rates, comparable to that of polyclinics.
We must accept that customer satisfaction is something that every organisation strives to achieve.
Having said that, we must also accept that it is almost impossible to ensure that every customer is satisfied.
Rajasegaran Ramasamy
ST Forum, 1 Apr 2013
Measures in place to boost health-care staffing
MR LIM Lick Teck ("Ensure enough manpower for new medical facilities"; March 19) asked about the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Education's (MOE) efforts to ensure Singapore has adequate qualified manpower to staff our new health-care facilities.
We thank Mr Lim for his concern, and agree with him that well-qualified and professional health-care staff are necessary to deliver quality care.
To expand our local health-care manpower supply, the MOH and MOE have been working closely to increase the annual intakes of health-care training programmes in Singapore.
Our local medical intake will increase from around 350 to more than 400, with the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore's third medical school, admitting its first cohort in August this year.
At a steady state, we expect 500 locally trained doctors to graduate from our three medical schools each year. We will also be increasing our nursing intake to 2,700 per year.
To grow our local talent pool in the public health-care sector, MOH Holdings (MOHH) awarded 176 health-care scholarships last year, an increase of more than 50 per cent from the 115 scholarships in 2011. The MOHH also offers pre-employment grants to Singaporeans studying medicine and dentistry overseas, to attract them back to the public health-care sector. Since 2010, 189 pre-employment grants have been awarded to Singaporean medical and dental students studying overseas.
Apart from students, the MOH also works closely with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency to attract mid-career professionals to join the health-care sector as nurses and allied health professionals by undertaking professional conversion programmes.
With enhancements of the training allowances during the course of study, we have seen an increase in enrolment from about 30 in 2011 to more than 50 this year.
We are also stepping up efforts to raise the awareness and attractiveness of nursing and allied health professions as careers of choice, through our newly launched branding campaign Care To Go Beyond.
Even with all the above measures, we would still need to supplement our manpower needs in the health-care sector with qualified overseas-trained staff, as health-care needs in Singapore are rapidly expanding.
The MOH and MOE will continue to invest in growing a high-quality health-care workforce, so as to fulfil the health-care mission of enabling all Singaporeans to live well, live long and with peace of mind.
Bey Mui Leng (Ms)
Director, Corporate Communications Ministry of Health
John Lim
Director, Higher Education Ministry of Education
ST Forum, 28 Mar 2013
Ensure enough manpower for new medical facilities
THE Ministry of Health is ramping up the supply of hospitals and health-care services over the next 10 to 20 years ("6 more hospitals, lower medical bills"; last Wednesday).
With the increase in infrastructure, is the question of the personnel running these facilities being properly addressed?
What is the Ministry of Education doing about the education and training of health-care employees?
For example, is it providing more university places for students studying medicine, dentistry and nursing? Are more scholarships and student grants being allocated for health-care services?
Thousands of Singaporean students apply for places at the National University of Singapore's medical school every year.
But due to the limited number of places, many either abandon their ambition or study overseas, at a huge financial cost to their families.
Meanwhile, we are seeing more foreign doctors, nurses and health-care workers here.
I hope the Health and Education ministries will work closely together on ensuring that we have enough manpower for the upcoming health facilities.
Lim Lick Teck
ST Forum, 19 Mar 2013
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