What you don't know won't cost you

What You Don't Know Won't Cost You

At a gathering one evening, I was engaged in conversation with a financial planner.

He told me that in Singapore, only full-paying healthcare is decent.

He gave the example of someone who has some critical condition, and only when you go to a wallet slimming private hospital that the person can be saved. Or this person can seek help at a government hospital and stay in the unsubsidised classes.

Curious, I asked him why the comment.

He said, in subsidised wards (in government hospitals), you get lousy doctors.

Interesting but flawed logic.

Government hospitals are also training hospitals. Young doctors train there and they are supervised by their professors or seniors.

When a subsidised patient enters the hospital, s/he is alloted to a senior doctor's team and the doctor and his/her trainees will come by and look after the patient.

When a fully paying patient enters, the senior doctor does all the work usually. And when the senior doctor is not around? The trainees come in nonetheless.

Even in the private hospital, you'll get teams of doctors.

So, as long as the supervising doctor does his job well, the patient is fine.

Having made this point, Financial Planner said, but you cannot choose the supervising doctor if you are a subsidised patient. If you are a private patient, you can choose who you want.

Oh, the money and the ego at work here.

I'm one person who doesn't know any top doctors because I'm just a church mouse.

I won't know who is good and who is bad. All I know is that if the doctor has poor bedside manners, then no amount of skills will make up for his lack of EQ.

Anyway, who are we to decide one doctor is better than another? They've all taken the Hippocratic (thanks for checking spelling, OKE) Oath.

Research also shows that a patient's healing process is 50% or more dependent on his faith in the doctor. As long as you have faith in the doctor assigned, you're likely to be fine anyway.

It's only people with a few more wads of stinky money that would actually do such snobbish things like compare and run down doctors. I'm convinced then that whoever ends up paying a bomb for medical care owing to flawed decisions DESERVED IT fully.

I never chose any doctors. The last time I stayed in the hospital, I was serving national service and I was cheapskately getting a cosmetic job (anal skin tag removal) at the army's expense.

I never chose a doctor. Didn't even know that my doctor, a Dr Tsang, was one of the best in his field. I only found out much later. He's one friendly, arrogant doctor. I know it's contradicting, but on him, it was fine.

So I went under and he knew I was a subsidised case. No question about that. And because my case was pretty simple and I had been a good patient (I fasted and cleaned out without complaint), he let me go first.

Instead of doing what he was asked to do, he looked in and ligated whatever internal piles he saw in the anus as a bonus.

He didn't even charge for that. It was the same fees whether I removed the little piece of flesh or for the additional he removed, for my comfort.

Choose a doctor? Whatever for?

I believe that doctors are benevolent in general.

I went back for a few reviews after my surgery and all the while, I was never made to feel like a subsidised patient. Dr Tsang was most professional throughout and I never thought I'd want to get anyone else.

Believe me. Usually, patient attitude counts a lot too. If you degrade or doubt your doctor, then he or she can't do much for you either.

It's a tacit trust in caregiving that makes it all so healing and wonderful.

I'll never argue with my cash by asking for full paying status!