Ministry of Health Long time to treat a public patient

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I went to the Singapore National Eye Center at 1.30 for an appointment. I went as a public patient (aka subsidized patient).

I left at 4.45 pm. The appointment took over 3 hours.

During this time, I was seen by the doctor and the attendants for a total of less than 15 minutes. The rest of the time was spent waiting to be called.

I am aware that there is a heavy demand for the medical services from public patients. This demand is already dealt with by the long time to get an appointment (which took one month in my case). 

The medical center probably allows sufficient slots for each day based on the available staff. In theory, there is no need for the patients to wait several hours for a process that takes 15 minutes. Maybe one hour would be sufficient, if the process was properly organized.

My friend said that the medical center made people wait a long time on purpose. This will force the well-to-do patients to register as private patients, to avoid the long waiting time. The doctor receives a share of the private fees, so they probably have an incentive to achieve this goal.

I could afford to be a private patient, but I chose to be a public patient to experience what the real world is like for ordinary people who are not well off.

My conclusion is that the long waiting time is unnecessary, and is a reflection of a poor process, or (as my friend said) a deliberate attempt to make life difficult for the public patients.

I prefer to refer to these patients as public patients, and not subsidized patients. I will explain my reason in a separate post.

Tan Kin Lian
 

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