Patient seeks private treatment due to long wait at public hospital

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Patient seeks private treatment due to long wait at public hospital

October 24th, 2013 | Author: Online Press

SGH

I am a caregiver to my mother, who was a subsidised patient in a restructured hospital, and agree with last Thursday’s letters by Dr David Ong (“Heavy patient load an obstacle to holistic care”) and Dr Leong Choon Kit (“How to reduce wait for specialist appointments”).
The waiting time for an appointment to see a doctor is at least six months, even for follow-up visits. But if one is a private patient, the waiting time is just one week.
When I took my mother to the hospital’s accident and emergency department because she developed post-operative complications, we had to wait for 14 hours to see a doctor, even though her leg was almost turning black.
During my mother’s hospitalisation, I did not even get to speak to the doctor who operated on my mother’s knee.
In the end, we sought private treatment.

Lee Kok Leong

* Letter first appeared in ST Forum (24 Oct).


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.