
The above is a clearer photograph of the source in your holiday HW.
Full resolution photograph available here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2392920656_9e43774409_b.jpg.

If your healthcare system is not universal and becomes so expensive that citizens have to go to a developing country for treatment, it is a tragedy, not an achievement. However, if you read today's New Paper, it seems to be saying the MOH has helped Singaporeans to save money by allowing them to use their Medisave for hospitalisation in Malaysia. All of us have to thank Minister Khaw for this flexibility of being able to save money by travelling to Malaysia when we get sick.
The article doesn't ask about adequency of govt support for poorer Singaporeans when the cost of private care in Malaysia is less than half (according to New Paper) that of subsidised care in Singapore. It doesn't ask why these people have to go to Malaysia to save money when Minister Khaw can get his heart fixed for $8....so poor people pay more and rich millionaires like Khaw get cheap healthcare - there is certainly a moral issue here.
The New Paper article is filled with smiling patients who are happy to save money going to Malaysia for treatment but I believe the story in many real cases sound more like tragedies. Take Singapore singer Yue Lei case as an example[Link]. He had to sell his home and go to Mahkota Hospital for cancer treatment because healthcare in Singapore is too expensive. Singapore often boasts of having one of the highest standards of medical care in the world but when the govt wants to keep its expenditure on subsidies down by sending poorer sick Singaporeans to Malaysia, it says the standard of care in a developing country is just as good as Singapore's.
Being able to get poor Singaporeans to go to developing countries for medical care takes the pressure off the govt to do more to contain costs and ensure universality in our system. We shouldn't have allowed this ...it is a tragic development for poor Singaporeans who get sick and don't get adequate help.
This finding emerged from a straw poll conducted by MP Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah GRC), who argued in Parliament on Wednesday that such 'in-your-face, upfront and simple' cash incentives would go further in convincing women to have more children.
'There is a tipping point, a price,' he said. 'Just that the Government hasn't found it, or is finding the price too tough to swallow.'
Mr Mohamad was one of three MPs to offer suggestions on how to boost the abysmal birth rate during the debate on the budget for the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in Parliament on Wednesday.
The other two were Nominated MPs Viswa Sadasivan and Paulin Tay Straughan. All three argued that the current array of subsidies and tax relief under the Government's $1.6 billion 'Marriage and Parenthood Package' are insufficient in convincing Singaporeans to have more children.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who heads the National Talent and Population Division under the PMO, said that more time was needed to assess the impact of the package, last enhanced in 2008.
S/N | Date | Item |
1. | 19 Jan | Ch 2 Mindmap/Notes |
2. | 23 Jan | SEQ - Principles of Governance |
3. | 08 Feb | Sample LORMS for Principles of Governance |
4. | 08 Feb | Graded Assignment 1: SEQ on Traffic Flow |
5. | 09 Feb | Inference Worksheet on Baby Bonus Scheme |
6. | 18 Feb | Graded Assignment 2: SBQ on Fertility Rate |
7. | 01 Mar | LORMS for Graded Assignments 1 & 2 |
8. | 02 Mar | Common Test 1 |
S/N | Date | Item |
1. | 28 Jan | Mindmap on Traffic Control and Population |
2. | 08 Feb | SEQ Scaffolding on Principles of Governance |
3. | 11 Feb | Sample LORMS on Principles of Governance |
4. | 11 Feb | Graded Assignment 1: SEQ on Traffic Flow |
5. | 09 Feb | Inference Worksheet on Baby Bonus Scheme |
6. | 23 Feb | Graded Assignment 2: SBQ on Fertility Rates |
7. | 01 Mar | LORMS for Graded Assignments 1 & 2 |
8. | 02 Mar | Common Test 1 |