Yeo Cheow Tong
Singapore
“Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked the Minister for Health in light of the recent report on fungal corneal infections (a) whether those who contracted the contact lens related fungal corneal infections will suffer permanent damage to their eyes; and (b) how long will his Ministry take to conclude its investigations into the causes of these contact le…”
“My Ministry performs a regulatory role and what we do is that we try to ensure that we have a conducive regulatory environment for the growth of this industry in Singapore. Let me tell him what we are doing in some areas.”
“Sir, on her two questions, whether we are satisfied that the school buses are collecting fares during the school holidays, as I mentioned just now, the school bus service is a contractual service between the parents and the service provider. It is therefore up to them to work out the terms and to abide by the terms.”
“Sir, on the first question, whether there is any abuse by owners of buses while using the 50% rebate, the answer is no, because LTA monitors very closely.”
“Sir, I have to repeat my answer. We are not responsible for regulating school buses and therefore will not be involved. SCHOOL BUSES (Installation of seat belts) 5. Assoc. Prof.”
“Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) if his Ministry will increase the cap of $10,000 per disabled person over their lifetime for the Assistive Technology Fund scheme; and (b) if not, whether there will be a flexibility to adjust the funding cap for this scheme based on the applicant's need, as j…”
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“Sir, the point that we must remember here is that only offences which are very serious in nature carry mandatory minimum sentences, eg, rape, robbery. The less serious offences do not normally carry a mandatory minimum sentence. Therefore, those who commit less serious offences are still eligible for probation. We are talking here of offenders of serious offences. Mr Chiam has mentioned that he has read the Hansard with regard to the amendment to the Probation of Offenders Act in 1984. The Minister at that time, Mr Chua Sian Chin, had stipulated the six categories of offences which carry mandatory minimum sentences.”
“Sir, the second point is that the upper age limit be moved higher to 25 years. As I have explained just now, this applies to offenders who have committed very serious offences. In granting probation, we have taken into consideration the fact that the young offenders are likely to be less mature, more easily misled by companion, and therefore we give them the benefit of the doubt and grant them probation. Sir, it will be difficult for us to assume that those above 21 years are still immature. In fact, with modern education, I would say that most people in their late teens are already fairly mature. But, nonetheless, we have used 21 years as a cut-off point and I would urge the House to stick to this age limit of 21, rather than move it higher, because there must always be a cut-off point. The key point to take into consideration is this. Is 21 the appropriate age where a person is mature enough to be responsible for his own action, especially when he is committing a very serious offence?”
“Sir, I would like to thank the Member for Hong Kah GRC, Mr Kenneth Chen, for his support for the Bill. Sir, I would definitely ask my officials to monitor those who are granted probation to see what are the effects of the probation on them in terms of their rehabilitation. With regard to Mr Chiam's two points, first, I would like to clarify that only offenders who are guilty or who have been convicted of serious offences are denied probation, ie, they are convicted and sentenced with a mandatory minimum sentence and therefore they are denied probation. Sir, these are for very serious offences, like rape, robbery, being part of a syndicate in extortion, and so on. For the other lesser offences they are still eligible for probation. Sir, with regard to his point that the age limit should be considered at the point of the offence rather than on the date of conviction, we had taken that point into consideration when we were reviewing the amendment and we looked to the United Kingdom for guidance. We studied the experience and the legislation in the United Kingdom. What we found was that in the UK they have stuck to this definition, which is the date upon conviction. I think there are good reasons for that. This is to ensure that those young offenders who commit serious offences are not given the incentive to go into hiding for as long as possible. Here, if they commit a serious offence and the Police are looking for them, the incentive is for them to really come out as quickly as possible, give themselves up and be subjected to the court's decision as quickly as possible. I think that the UK's practice has been a time-proven one. Since most of our laws are adapted from the UK model, it is wise that we stick to the UK practice.”
“Juvenile offenders below 16 years of age are dealt with under the Children and Young Persons Act. What is of concern to us are the young offenders in the age group of 16-21 years. There are two points which we need to bear in mind. First, my Ministry's experience with young offenders on probation shows that 94% were first offenders. About 84% of those granted probation complete it successfully. What is significant is that for young offenders who had committed offences involving mandatory minimum sentences and who had been granted probation, 81% of them successfully completed their probation. Second, when an offender is sentenced with a custodial sentence, the sentence stands as a conviction in his or her record. On the other hand, if an offender is placed on probation, it will not be deemed as a conviction for the record. For young offenders, this will greatly facilitate their rehabilitation within the community. Young offenders are more likely to be in school or higher institutions of learning or at early stages of employment. By placing them on probation, we allow them to continue with their education or employment. Furthermore, they will benefit from the personal care, guidance and supervision of a Probation Officer. It will give them the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, and become a responsible member of society. This amendment will allow those who are deemed suitable by the courts to be put on probation. Only those with relatively stable family backgrounds, good school or employment records, and no previous delinquent traits are considered for probation. I have no doubt that the courts, which have always been careful and selective when considering offenders for probation, will continue to do so. Sir, I beg to move. Question proposed.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time." The Bill seeks to amend the Probation of Offenders Act (Chapter 252) to provide the Courts with the power to grant probation, or an order of absolute or conditional discharge, for young offenders who have attained the age of 16 years but have not attained the age of 21 years at the time of their convictions for their offences, notwithstanding that the offences concerned are punishable with specified minimum or mandatory minimum sentences. In addition, such young offenders must also not have been previously convicted of an offence that is punishable with a specified minimum, or mandatory minimum sentence. Sir, the Probation of Offenders Act, as it now stands, can apply to any offence except for those offences where the sentence is fixed by law. The proposed amendments are necessary in view of the decision by the Chief Justice on 30th June 1993 that the Courts have no power to grant probation to offenders convicted of an offence where a mandatory minimum sentence is prescribed for that offence. The Chief Justice had ruled that the Court's discretion to make a Probation Order cannot over-ride the intention of the legislature in providing for specific sentences to be meted out for specific offences. He ruled that the words "fixed by law" appearing in section 5(1) of the Probation of Offenders Act apply to mandatory minimum sentences. Sir, the Chief Justice's decision is correct. In granting probation to an adult offender in cases where the law specifies a mandatory minimum sentence, a Court would be defeating the intention of Parliament when it enacted mandatory minimum penalties for such offences. The Probation of Offenders Act applies only to offenders above 16 years of age.”
“Sir, this Small Families Improvement Scheme will replace the Cash Grant Scheme because this Scheme is much more attractive than the Cash Grant Scheme.”
“Sir, the Cash Grant Scheme required the women to come forward to be sterilised. That is the main difference. They are aimed at helping families to keep their family size small. In terms of the broader objectives, they are the same. It is just that the mechanism is different.”
“Sir, we estimate that about 4,000 families could benefit from the Scheme.”
“Sir, since the announcement of the Small Families Improvement Scheme by the Prime Minister at the National Day Rally on 15th August this year, my Ministry has been working with various relevant Government and statutory bodies to work out the operational details. My Ministry has also held briefing and discussion sessions with various community groups likely to come into contact with families eligible for the Scheme to enlist their help in reaching out to them. We are also developing information pamphlets for distribution through the voluntary welfare organisations, grassroots organisations, unions and self-help groups, as well as family-planning clinics and other relevant agencies. The Scheme will be implemented in January 1994. More details on the Scheme will be released in December this year.”
“Sir, the other point is that he obviously has not understood that the total bill size or the total expenditure incurred by the patient is more than his ward charges, because the total expenditure will include medication, various treatments, investigations and X-ray that he has taken. Therefore, we have to look at his total bill size and not just at the ward charges that have been imposed. 4.20 pm”
“Sir, as Mr Dhanabalan has explained just now, we will address the issues on health care when the White Paper is tabled next month. I would like to take this opportunity to reply to the point raised by Dr Toh Keng Kiat when he spoke just now and presented a Table on the subsidies for B2 and class C patients in the Singapore General Hospital. He claimed that his calculations show that SGH is subsidising the B2 patients much more than class C patients. His calculations are totally wrong because he has used a very simplistic approach. For example, he has taken the class C ward fee of $23 and multiply that by 0.8 - 0.8 being the 80% subsidy. From there, he said that the subsidy for a class C patient is $18.40. Similarly, he has done it for B2. Sir, the fees are the actual payment from the patients. The subsidy part is invisible. This is the part that has been absorbed by the hospital. I would like to show the actual figures. Fortunately, this morning, in preparation for the Oral Answer to Dr Vasoo, I brought along some data with me. The 75th percentile bill size, the amount of money that the patient pays, in the B2 ward is $815 for his entire stay in the hospital. Based on the subsidy rate of 70% for SGH, this works out to an actual subsidy of $1,900 for the patient during his stay in hospital. So the Government absorbs $1,900. The patient pays only $815. For the 75th percentile class C patient, his bill size came to $533 and the subsidy from the Government is about $2,130. For the class C patient in SGH, the subsidy at $2,130 is far greater than the subsidy received by the B2 patient. I would like to clarify that, Sir, and put the subsidy figure in the right ballpark.”
“Sir, in view of the increasing number of doctors who are returning from abroad with their basic medical degree, my Ministry has been looking into this situation and we will be coming to a decision in the near future. HOUGANG CENTRAL BUS INTERCHANGE (Date of completion and operation) 3. Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng asked the Minister for Communications if he will indicate (i) the expected date of completion and operation of the bus interchange at Hougang Central and (ii) the number of trunk and feeder bus services that will be available at the bus interchange.”
“Sir, from 1990 to 1992, no local medical graduates left the services after completing their housemanship or within the first year as a medical officer. Seven, or about 8%, of foreign medical graduates left for private practice after completing their housemanship or within the first year as medical officers over the same period. Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng (Cheng San GRC): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister, in view of the fact that foreign medical graduates would not be familiar with the practice of medicine in our particular context and, furthermore, with the rapid advances in medicine, whether the Ministry would consider it prudent to ensure that the foreign medical graduates, like our local graduates, have a certain period of practice as a medical officer in some of the general disciplines, like the Emergency Department or perhaps the Outpatient Services, before they are released to private practice.”
“There are only B2 wards for those five specialties. If the patient really cannot afford, whether he was first admitted as a C class patient or otherwise, he should let the hospital staff know and the rest follows automatically. There is no difficulty or complication in the appraisal process. MEDICAL GRADUATES (Number and percentage who left for private practice) 2. Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng asked the Minister for Health what is the number and percentage of local and foreign medical graduates who left for private practice after completing their housemanship or within the first year as a medical officer during the years 1990 to 1992.”
“Sir, as I explained just now, if he only can afford C class charges, then the patient can let the hospital know and the hospital will be very happy to remit the bill.”
“Sir, in many cases, many of the patients in C class can very well afford C class and B2 rates. But they have chosen to go into C class because they are very prudent in the use of their funds and we should respect that. But when they can afford to pay B2 charges and they do not wish to be downgraded to C class, we should also respect their wishes.”
“Sir, in the first place, these are very specialised facilities like, for example, the Burns Unit. In most cases, the patients are admitted directly into that unit, for example, the Cardio-thoracic Unit for those with heart attacks. In the unlikely instance where they are admitted first as C class patients in another ward, and then they are put in a B2 ward, they are still charged as B2 patients. But if they have any problems paying the bills, the hospital will always be very flexible in remitting them.”
“Sir, this question has been asked several times and I have answered it several times. I would like to explain again. In the five disciplines where there are no C class beds, the patient is admitted as either a B2 class patient or above. Where the patients find that they are unable to afford B2 bills, they can ask for the bills to be reduced either to a C class bill or for complete remission. The hospital will then review on a case by case basis.”
“Sir, the demand for the subsidised beds - B1, B2 and C classes - in SGH has always been very high. In fact, quite often, patients have to wait for admission to all these three classes of beds. The answer is very simple as to why the demand is so high. I think Singaporeans do see SGH as being the premier hospital and, therefore, from all parts of Singapore, patients go to SGH and it is not possible for one hospital to meet the medical needs of all the people in Singapore. So we have to keep on explaining to the patients that in actual fact the other hospitals do give equally good service. In some cases, the waiting time for admission into the hospital is much shorter if they had gone to an alternative hospital and very often we do explain that to the patients going to SGH.”
“Sir, as I have explained to Dr Vasoo just now, we monitor the demand for C class beds and if the need goes up, we will make available more C class beds. But the demand for C class beds in the past few years has actually been declining and, therefore. it is not feasible to impose a fixed limit on the number of C class beds.”
“Sir, the costs of building and renovation are normally reflected in the capital cost of the hospital. In the case of Alexandra Hospital, they pay a rental to the Government for the use of the land and building and the subsidy provided by the Government is more than adequate to cover the rental cost for the subsidised patients.”
“Sir, my Ministry monitors regularly the demand for all classes of beds and we make adjustments to meet the demand as and when required.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government will continue to ensure that basic health care is accessible and affordable to all Singaporeans, by providing subsidies to the lower income groups and waiving charges for the needy. My Ministry has taken the needs of lower-income Singaporeans into consideration when planning the development of the new hospitals and clinics. For example, the three new hospitals being built now, namely, the new Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Kandang Kerbau Hospital and the new hospital in Simei, will have a total of about 3,550 B2 and C class beds, as compared to the existing total of 3,300 beds. A new Community Hospital was opened in Ang Mo Kio in June this year. The Community Hospital provides low cost intermediate level hospital care. More than 80% of its beds are B2 and C class beds. We will build more community hospitals in future if the need arises. The Ministry will also continue to provide affordable primary health care and will develop further our network of polyclinics. New polyclinics will be opened in Bukit Batok, Geylang and Choa Chu Kang within the next two to three years. The Alexandra Hospital will be the only Government hospital and there are no plans to restructure it for the time being. My Ministry is currently renovating Alexandra Hospital at the cost of $27 million to upgrade the facilities and services. The renovations will result in an increased capacity of about 100 B2 and C class beds when they are completed in 1994.”
“Sir, the Government has always made it very clear that those who are unable to afford paying even the heavily subsidised Class C charges will get their charges waived. We stand by that. We have had no occasion where people have come forward and say, "We have not been able to afford it" and were denied treatment or were still forced to pay without being given the option to get a waiver of fees. If Mr Ling is aware of any cases of this nature, please let us know. But he has still not answered my question. What about a person who is self-employed who does not have any Medisave, but his children have Medisave accounts? Is he saying, as long as you do not have a Medisave account, you do not have to pay the bills? Is he suggesting that? Mr Peh Chin Hua( In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, Mr Ling has not replied to my second question. I would like to ask him when he is going to present his report to us. Mr Ling How Doong( In Mandarin): SDP has not made any promise that we are going to present a report. Why is the Member asking us when we are going to present a report? We have never said we are going to present a separate report. Why is he suddenly asking us this question? Mr Peh Chin Hua( In Mandarin): According to a report in the Lianhe Zaobao, the SDP will be presenting their own report. Mr Ling How Doong( In Mandarin): This has not been approved by the Central Committee of our Party. Mr Peh Chin Hua( In Mandarin): In other words, he is saying that he is unable to settle his own domestic affairs.”
“The number of ICU beds in NUH will increase by 15 with the expansion. POLYCLINIC MEDICAL CENTRE AT YISHUN CENTRAL (Increase in medical charges) 6. Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Health whether medical charges at the new polyclinic at Yishun Central, opposite Block 647, will increase when it becomes a medical centre; and whether he will confirm that the medical centre will start operating in January 1994.”
“Sir, implementation of the National University Hospital (NUH) Phase III expansion project has started. It will introduce 112 C Class beds to the current bed complement, as well as expand Class A and B1 facilities by 50 and 48 beds respectively. Phase III will involve the construction of a new Tower block with a podium as well as conversion work in the existing buildings. When completed, NUH will have a total of 991 beds, compared to the current 702. The heavily subsidised B2 and C beds will form 60% of the bed complement. In addition to the new wards, Phase III will also house a new Day Surgery Complex with 28 beds and five operating theatres. Specialist Outpatient Clinics for Eye, ENT and surgical disciplines together with three specialised service centres, namely, oncology, endoscopy and renal medicine, will also be located in the building. The project is expected to be completed by 1997 at an estimated cost of $130 million.”
“(a) The expenditure on artificial reproductive technologies (ART) in 1991 and 1992 by the three public sector Centres (SGH, KKH and NUH) was: 1991 1992 $2,404,600 $2,821,000 Information for 1990 is not available. (b) The cost per live birth produced through ART averaged 32,000. (c) Expenditure on ART comprised approximately 0.2% of recurrent Government health expenditure. The expenditure is fully recovered, since ART services are not subsidised. BREAKDOWN OF STUDENTS IN SECONDARY 4 AND SECONDARY 5 BY STREAM, SEX AND YEAR 6. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Education what percentage of students by gender were in the Science, Commerce, Technical and Arts streams in Secondary 4 for the years 1990 to 1993.”
“Lower-income families generally have a larger family size. This is a world-wide phenomenon and we are no exception. In 1992, families earning less than $1,500 have, on average, 2.3 children, whereas those earning more than $4,000 have only 1.7. There are two main reasons for this. First, lower income families tend to be less educated. They tend to marry and start their families earlier. They also tend to rely more on children as a source of economic support and old age security. These factors lead to their preference for a larger family size. In Singapore, the desired family size among those earning less than $1,500 is 3.0, as compared with 2.8 for those earning more than $4,000. The second reason is related to the use of contraceptives. Studies have shown that the contraceptive usage rate is much lower among the lower income families although the knowledge of contraceptives is almost identical across all income groups. 58% of married women among the lower income families (earning $1,500 or less) are not using contraceptives as compared with 43% among families earning more than $4,000. FLEXIBLE BENEFITS PLAN FOR CIVIL SERVANTS 4. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Finance whether he will consider a flexible benefit plan for all civil servants instead of a fixed system of medical and other benefits.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I name the first sitting after 1st November 1993 for the Second Reading of the Bill.”
“Sir, that is being done. For example, for housemen, the housemen pool is shared equally amongst all the hospitals. But for trainees, I think it is important for only those who are interested in being trained in a particular hospital to respond. There is no point in forcing trainees who do not have an interest in that specialty, for example, to be posted to a certain hospital. TELOK BLANGAH RISE ESTATE (Sale of 3-room rental flats) The following Question stood in the name of Dr S. Vasoo - 12. To ask the Minister for National Development whether the Housing and Development Board will sell all the 3-room rental flats in Telok Blangah Rise Estate as soon as possible.”
“Sir, each hospital has a certain number of posts depending on the number of beds and patients that it has and the size of the different departments. SGH has adequate posts to cater for the needs of the patients going to SGH. NUH also has a certain number of posts to meet their needs. Hospitals advertise when they have vacancies. It is up to the potential trainees to respond to those vacancies. As it turns out in NUH, there are certain departments which have difficulties filling up the available posts.”
“No, Sir. We do publicise the traineeship positions that are available and it is up to the trainees to respond to the vacancies. Dr Kanwaljit Soin: Sir, is it true that the Singapore General Hospital does not have enough posts for doctors while the NUH does not have enough doctors for its posts, and that is why NUH has to advertise for foreign doctors? I would like to know about this mismatch, please.”
“Sir, firstly, the attractiveness of the different specialties varies. Secondly, I think the individual doctors themselves have different interests. So whilst there may be a need for additional specialists in certain specialty, the interest amongst the existing doctors to take up traineeship posts may not be there. Therefore, there tends to be a mismatch at times.”
“Sir, the training of doctors takes many years. There is a long lead time - five years of university education plus another one year of housemanship. So whilst we cut down the number of students today, these numbers will only show up in six, seven or eight years' time when they graduate and they have gone through their postgraduate studies. There is therefore still a need for us to have a few foreign doctors to maintain adequate numbers today.”
“Sir, there is still a need for specialists in certain specialties where we are short. Also, the population of doctors has not reached the optimum level yet. We expect to reach the optimum level by about the year 2000 when we have about 5,400 doctors at that time versus 4,000 today. So we will still require additional doctors. Also, there is a need for us to expand our population through immigration. Therefore, we will continue to allow a small number of foreign-trained non-Singaporean doctors even in the future years.”
“Sir, the number of non-Singaporean foreign-trained doctors registered to practise in Singapore for the past three years, 1990 to 1992, was 391. Of these, 116 were granted conditional registration to practise in hospitals or group practice under the supervision of fully-registered doctors for a period of two years. The remaining 275 were granted temporary registration to practise as visiting experts, to undertake postgraduate studies, short-term locum practice, teaching or research. During the same period, 95 non-Singaporean foreign-trained doctors were converted from conditional to full registration.”
“Sir, we should not confuse the objective of helping our families who have divorced with the objective of the Small Families Improvement Scheme (SFIS). The Scheme is targeted at a very specific group of people, which is families, and "families" means that you must have both parents living together with the children and families whose parents have low income and low education. If single families require help, they can approach the relevant agencies for help under separate programmes.”
“Sir, of the 8,600 households eligible for the Scheme, 6,300 (73%) are Chinese, 1,600 (19%) are Malays and 700 (8%) are Indians. As the Member can appreciate, these proportions are very close to our racial composition in the population and therefore the Scheme is not intended for any particular minority group.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, about 8,600 households will be eligible for the Small Families Improvement Scheme. The Scheme is meant to encourage poor families to keep their families small so that they can concentrate more resources and attention on fewer children. The $750 per month income limit each for husband and wife covers roughly the lowest 20 percentile of the population. The other conditions reduce the percentage of eligible households to 3%. These conditions ensure that the Scheme reaches the intended target group. We do not intend to raise the wage limit from $750 to $1,000, as families where the husband and wife are both earning $1,000 per month cannot be considered poor. We realise that among the target group of low income families, many have irregular incomes which vary from month to month. We will therefore exercise some flexibility in the implementation of the Scheme, to give the benefit of the doubt to marginal cases with incomes close to the limit. The percentage of families who qualify for the Scheme will drop over time as education levels and incomes rise. After the Scheme has been in operation for several years, we will revise it in the light of experience. But we do not intend to index the income criterion to inflation as this automatic linkage sets a dangerous precedent.”
“The Ministry of Health has been monitoring the trend of AIDS in Singapore closely. It has decided to carry out AIDS screening on work permit holders and applicants early this year because of the increasing number of work permit holders found to be HIV positive. On the other hand, the number of infected employment pass holders has remained negligible. While there is no need to extend AIDS screening to employment pass holders, the Ministry will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
“The Ministry of Health plans to train about 40% of each cohort of graduating doctors as specialists. To accommodate this plan, my Ministry has made provision for 260 trainee posts in the various hospitals to enable the trainees to receive the requisite training so that they can qualify to take the post-basic specialist examinations. The number of trainee posts in the different specialities is co-ordinated by the Ministry to ensure that we will have adequate specialist manpower to meet the needs of the country. CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND TOP-UP SCHEME 10. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Labour (a) how many new accounts and activated old accounts have taken advantage of the Central Provident Fund Top-up Scheme so far and (b) what is the plan for the unused portion of the $200 million budgeted for the scheme.”
“The breakdown of doctors is as follows: Doctors in Singapore 1992 Male Female Total Doctors providing primary 969 (34%) 443 (39%) 1412 (36%) health care Doctors providing specialist 1114 (40%) 373 (32%) 1487 (37%) care MOs under training/NS doctors 635 (23%) 274 (24%) 909 (23%) Not Working 93 (3%) 61 (5%) 154 (4%) Total 2811 (100%) 1151 (100%) 3962 (100%) SPECIALIST TRAINING FOR DOCTORS 9. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health what are the plans for trainee posts for specialist training for doctors and what is the planned ratio of specialists to non-specialist doctors.”
“Beauty salons are not under the purview of the Ministry of Health as they do not provide medical services. There are no regulations under the purview of my Ministry controlling tattooing or the injection of foreign materials that are not controlled drugs in beauty salons. However, my Ministry will take action if invasive procedures for plastic surgery are performed either by unqualified persons or in premises which are not licensed as medical clinics, thereby contravening the Medical Registration Act or the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act. DOCTORS IN THE PRIMARY HEALTH SECTOR 8. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the number of doctors working in the primary health sector and the gender breakdown and (b) what percentage of the total number of doctors does this constitute.”
“Under the Radiation Protection Act 1991, the import, possession and use of lasers in Singapore are controlled through licensing by the Ministry of Health. Lasers are classified into 5 classes in line with internationally-established classification standards. The first 3 classes comprise low-powered lasers that are incapable of causing burns or being used for cutting. Users of such low-powered lasers are not required to be licensed. Beauty salons are only allowed to use these low-powered lasers. To ensure that there is no illegal possession of high-powered lasers or misuse of lasers, my Ministry makes surprise checks on beauty salons. My Ministry will also investigate, should the public or doctors lodge any complaints regarding complications arising from the use of lasers. REGULATIONS ON THE USE OF INVASIVE PROCEDURES IN BEAUTY SALONS 7. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health whether there are regulations on the use of invasive procedures, such as tattooing and injection of foreign materials, in beauty salons.”
“Foreign patients using government and restructured hospitals make up between 2% and 5% of total admissions over the last 3 years. They are only admitted into A and B1 wards. Besides being charged the full cost of treatment, foreign patients are levied a surcharge on the total hospital bill. Government is not subsidising these patients. Since foreign patients constitute only a very small proportion of patients in our public sector hospitals and are not subsidised, they have not taken up our resources at the expense of our citizens. CONTROL ON THE USE OF LASER THERAPY IN BEAUTY SALONS 6. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health what supervision is being enforced by his Ministry on the use of laser therapy in beauty salons for facial pigmentation, when doctors have to undergo courses before using laser therapy.”
“The average earning per month of the top 10% of the medical specialists in the Singapore General Hospital under the present points system which was implemented only on 1st May 1993 is $24,800, compared to an average of $26,200 prior to the introduction of the points system. FOREIGN PATIENTS IN GOVERNMENT AND RESTRUCTURED HOSPITALS 5. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health, of the total number of patients treated in restructured, government and university hospitals from 1990 to 1992, (a) what was the percentage of foreign patients; (b) what was the cost-benefit analysis of treating foreign patients; and (c) whether the resources would be better utilized if they were allocated to Singaporeans.”
“The administrative cost per annum of running the Singapore General Hospital amounts to about 5% of its total operating cost. EARNINGS OF MEDICAL SPECIALISTS IN THE SINGAPORE GENERAL HOSPITAL 4. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health what were the average earnings per month of the top 10% of the medical specialists in the Singapore General Hospital before and after the implementation of the present points system.”
“My Ministry is currently studying the possibility of extending the use of Medisave for hospice care. We expect to complete the review within the next few months. WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS PUBLIC HOUSING PRICES 1. Mr Chia Shi Teck asked the Minister for National Development if he will state i) the average yearly increase in public housing land prices which the Housing and Development Board paid to the Government from 1988 to 1992; ii) the effects of these increases on the subsequent selling prices of HDB flats for those years; and iii) the possibility of increasing the plot ratio or density of land usage to control and possibly reduce the selling prices of HDB flats.”
“Slimming businesses are not under the purview of my Ministry, as they do not provide health care services. However, when complaints are received from the public or medical doctors about the unlawful use of scheduled drugs and harmful medical products which are regulated under the Medicines Act and Poisons Act, in slimming saloons, the Ministry will look into them. Between January 1992 and June 1993, the Ministry has received and investigated three complaints about slimming businesses. We have not found any evidence of the use of scheduled drugs or harmful medical products. There is therefore no need for the Ministry to have regular health monitoring of slimming businesses. REASONS FOR HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD'S SUBLETTING POLICY 22. Dr Wang Kai Yuen asked the Minister for National Development what were the reasons for the subletting policy of the Housing and Development Board when it was first implemented and whether a review is appropriate in the circumstances today.”
“The hospitals also ensure that doctors are punctual and that they do not schedule ward rounds, meetings, operating and teaching sessions when they have their clinic sessions. Other measures which have been implemented to reduce waiting times include: a) Improving the operations of the Medical Records Office to ensure that the case records of patients with appointments are retrieved at least 2 days in advance of their appointment. As a result, the percentage of patients without case records have reduced from 0.05% in 1990 to 0.01% in 1992. b) In the A&E Department, more doctors are rostered during the busy periods identified. In addition, a system has also been set up whereby doctors in the wards and other departments are alerted and deployed to the A&E Department whenever a crowd builds up. The Ministry will continue to monitor and to look into measures to improve waiting times as much as possible. HEALTH MONITORING FOR SLIMMING BUSINESSES 15. Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health if he will consider some form of health monitoring for the proliferating slimming businesses.”