Changi General Hospital thinks out of box to solve overcrowding ( but I said it first)

Dear Friends


Changi General takes a small step ( but significant one) to try to solve severe overcrowding at the Accident & Emergency Dept ( A&E). ( click here)


It incentivises patient to try to seek treatment at their neighbourhood General Practitioners (GP) first.


If after that the GP still deems them serious enough to seek re-attendance at the A&E, they are accorded a $50 discount.


This is good as:
1. Non-emergency cases will be seen ( more quickly) by their GP's at a lower total cause. ie $30-50 GP fees compared to $100 A & E fees.
Even if re-attended at A & E : total fees will be $80-100 .


2. Non-emergency cases will not clog up the A&E- leaving the remaining ( ie less) emergency cases to be seen by the already over-burdened doctors/nurses.


Most stakeholders will be happier:
1. Non-emergency patient : happy! 2. Emergency patient: happy! 3. GP lagi happy! 4. A&E docs/nurses lagi lagi happy!


Slightly unhappy: if emergency case goes to EXPENSIVE GP who charges $150... then gets referred back to A&E to only get $50 discount... TOTAL BILL: $200 but he will be fast-tracked and does not have to wait with the rest of the crowd... so Not so unhappy!


BTW: CGH copied my idea! Really!


I wrote on this exact topic ( click here)  and this was published in the newspaper's forum pages and I thought it was forgotten... BUT.. no... nothing is ever wasted. I always thought it was feasible!


In life- there are always negative people who will pour cold water on anything new others want to introduce... why rock the boat ( they say)... society is not ready ( they say)... this is Singapore and we do things differently from the rest of the whole wide world ( they say)...


But I say- Huat Ah! Just say and do what you think is right! What is good for your fellow men... and women...


Gong Xi Fa Cai! Huat Ah!


Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan

Euromoney’s Finance Minister of the Year Tharman Shanmugaratnam would have been PM-to be if not for…

Euromoney’s Finance Minister of the Year Tharman Shanmugaratnam would have been Singapore's PM-to be if not for…

Dear Friends,

I have always known how great an asset Singapore has in Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. The renowned financial magazine Euromoney ( see link)  has just confirmed what many of us already know.

Unlike the new media, including one chappie ( who happened to be a ex-Presidential candidate) who said ,” I am surprised as I find Singapore to be costly, inefficient and wasteful, and the situation has not improved in spite of a lot of money being spent, or given away ” and many others with the usual negative comments about almost anything that others have to say about Singapore, I have always felt that Tharman has done very well ( within the constraints that he operated in).

I have said before ( and I will say it again), that Tharman would have made an excellent PM when the time comes.

However according to past and present government leaders this is unlikely to be.

Former PM Lee Kuan Yew said,

“I am a realist and am inclined to agree with Mr S. Dhanabalan that Chinese Singaporeans are not ready to accept a non-Chinese prime minister….This is the reality and fact of life that we cannot pretend that such mindset does not exist.” ( 1 Dec 2007)

And even more surprisingly to me present PM Lee also has similar sentiments) at Excerpts from ST on 9 Nov 2008.

Non-Chinese PM?

SINGAPORE may have a non-Chinese prime minister one day but that is unlikely to happen any time soon, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday, four days after Americans elected their first black president.

So,

1.       Has Tharman done well for us and is his accolade deserved?

2.       Has Singapore matured and gone to First World meritocracy where the best gets to lead?

3.       Can our present group of leaders ever come out of the shadow of the past leader/s?

I know my answers, what are yours?

Cheers,

Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan

How I chill out- When I don't take myself too seriously...

Dear friends,

I love this life.

I can choose to take Singapore seriously and try to dissect government policies or ( rarely) propose new ones or ... just chill out and do what I love best.

Also- I am pretty jaded about following the state of " he said/ she said" type of petty politics.

Too much negativity all round ( not just from VB and his people).

When I let loose, besides spending previous time with friends and loved ones ( not enough of both groups), I also do things by myself.

In this inner sanctum, that even my beloved is forbidden, I read books... and read happenings in my hobby groups ( and just wish...):

Books i just read:

1. Haruki Murakami : 1Q84 

I still love Norwegian Woods but I have to move on...

2. Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart 

How the west love to colonize all of us and make us white like them...

3. Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 Sadly Larsson and Achebe have both died! And Larsson's trilogy are the only books that have been published!!

Hobby groups I linger with ( but they don't know I am lurking behind in the dark)

1. Urban Sketchers Singapore ( very talented Sg artists)

2. Fountain Pen Lovers Group ( a new obsession that I will be speaking to my psychiatrist friends soon- before I spend all my children's inheritance)

Any comments, my friends?

 Cheers

Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan