Overcrowded hospital no bed


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xtemujin

Senior Member
Apr 1, 2005
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Singapura, Singapore
I went to NUH A&E a few weeks ago, there were no hospital bed and the emergency area was crowded and it was side by side.

There were many patients and not enough doctor too.

It looks like things have not changed.
 

Choose another hospital next time :)
 

For ambulance cases, you cannot choose.

u cannot tell them what hospital u want meh?
I meant I rather go to AH than NUH.
 

hmm my experience - tell them you prefer hospital X, and tell them all your records are there, and your doctor is there.

the ambulance chaps acceded, but said "next time, cannot". rather insensitive to say, actually, but oh well.
 

Singapore lacks doctors. IIRC we need about 600 new ones to fully fulfil our aim of becoming a biomedical hub for the region. I mean 600 new ones a year, NUS produces only about 200 IIRC a year and the rest need to be hired from abroad. The doctor pay here is 1/3 that of other developed countries. You figure it out.

That said, there needs to be a logistical change, to allow people with non-critical yet serious enough problems, to have an alternative to A and E. Right now, if you want to be seen by a hospital and not the crappy polyclinic and unknowledgeable GPs, you need to walkin to A and E.
 

That said, there needs to be a logistical change, to allow people with non-critical yet serious enough problems, to have an alternative to A and E. Right now, if you want to be seen by a hospital and not the crappy polyclinic and unknowledgeable GPs, you need to walkin to A and E.

This is very true loh! But I guess it ties in with the lack of doctors and facilities here.
 

I sent my late father to NUH in 2003 and IIRC, I waited for 5 hours for a bed.

Today it's my turn and it took 6 hours for a bed. When I've a bed, I was discharged quickly as the hospital needed the bed.
 

Singapore lacks doctors. IIRC we need about 600 new ones to fully fulfil our aim of becoming a biomedical hub for the region. I mean 600 new ones a year, NUS produces only about 200 IIRC a year and the rest need to be hired from abroad. The doctor pay here is 1/3 that of other developed countries. You figure it out.

That said, there needs to be a logistical change, to allow people with non-critical yet serious enough problems, to have an alternative to A and E. Right now, if you want to be seen by a hospital and not the crappy polyclinic and unknowledgeable GPs, you need to walkin to A and E.

I believe the key issue here is, lack of sufficient resources channeled to areas such as Health care.

Example, you could see long queue built up at polyclinics before its opening hours...
Such scene has been there for many years.

In general, any professional pay in Singapore are always below developed/ newly developed nations. Policy here is to make sure wage is kept low.
 

Ambulance will always take you to the nearest Hospital. It's their protocol not your choice. Unless it is a private ambulance, it's non negotiable.


Sorry to say this, but yet PM wants to up our population and welcome more foreigners in. Looks like our basic infrastructure is bursting at seams. It seems the last 10 years public places have been overly too crowded. The last Airshow was an example and I vow not to bring my family to future exhibits/shows.

Don't get me wrong, we need those overseas nurses/doctors to fill the vacancy in the health sector.

Looks like the chicken or egg analogy. Build hospital first or wait until over crowded then build new ones. MRT did one better, remove seats becoz ppl complain too crowded, stupidlah.
 

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With so many foreigners and a less than proportional increase in facilities, this problem will just be worse over time. Can we imagine what happens when there are 7m people in Singapore with just a few govt hospitals? Forget about Parkway group of hospitals as these are not built for the masses. Polyclinics are a joke as it does not have proper facilities or expertise for surgery.

In fact, it is a common sight to see foreign workers admitted due to work related injuries. These are emergency cases which also need the same attention as locals or PR.

Instead of building a better hospital, they built a school next to GH. It makes it convenient to use patients as specimen subjects to cut, draw and test. And these will just delay the recovery process of the poor patient.
 

Ambulance will always take you to the nearest Hospital. It's their protocol not your choice. Unless it is a private ambulance, it's non negotiable.


Sorry to say this, but yet PM wants to up our population and welcome more foreigners in. Looks like our basic infrastructure is bursting at seams. It seems the last 10 years public places have been overly too crowded. The last Airshow was an example and I vow not to bring my family to future exhibits/shows.

Don't get me wrong, we need those overseas nurses/doctors to fill the vacancy in the health sector.

Looks like the chicken or egg analogy. Build hospital first or wait until over crowded then build new ones. MRT did one better, remove seats becoz ppl complain too crowded, stupidlah.


I felt the same too bro. Not only during Air Show, all the other exhibitions are the same, till I gave up. Even performances at the shopping centres are the same. :confused:
 

I think S'poreans have to be realistic about our health care system.

Health care is a difficult issue to manage and even more developed countries then Singapore have significant problems with their public health care system. Take a look at the United States or the UK. Even Australia which was ranked no.2 in the world in terms of health care has extremely long waiting times at their hospitals. One major hospital here has an average 10 hr waiting time at the A&E during peak periods.

The long waiting time is also a result of S'poreans who have a belief (which is absolutely false) that being treated at a hospital is better then seeing a GP. At the A&E you will most likely be seen by a junior doctor with 2-3 yrs experience. How in the world is he better then most GPs who have easily 7-20+ yrs of experience ??

Another point to take note is that each hospital bed is a precious resource. Every second that a bed is occupied by a patient who does not need it (ie. not acutely unwell / no life-threatening issues), it deprives a patient who genuinely needs it. Therefore it is only logical to discharge patients who do not require the expertise care of hospital staff.

Dun mean to offend anyone with my post but I feel the need to explain the difficulties that health care professionals/administrators face everyday. Especially health care professionals in Singapore .... it really is a thankless job.
 

Dun mean to offend anyone with my post but I feel the need to explain the difficulties that health care professionals/administrators face everyday. Especially health care professionals in Singapore .... it really is a thankless job.

At least doctors are more well respected as compared to other professions in this society...
 

At least doctors are more well respected as compared to other professions in this society...

the profession might be respected... but often at the point of personal emergency, anything goes. ;)
 

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