Medical Report
I refer to the haughty reply from the 'civil servant' [Ed: see below]. I have a private medical insurance. As with private insurance companies, they required a Medical Report when I submitted my two-day claim for Hospitalisation ($50 per day)= $100/=. The Medical Report with all privatised hospitals is $75/=. Guess who swallows the LION's Share? Just another comment - The HDB punishes the killer-litter culprit's family NOW. By all means, punish severely the culprit but can parents nowadays really control the actions of their children? Or siblings? Or relatives who live with them? This reminds me when I was in school - someone in the class commits an offence and because classmates are wont to finger the culprit, the whole class is punished - Singapore JUSTICE.
And yet there is a campaign called KINDNESS WEEK! What is achieved by making the innocent homeless? It only stirs up negative emotions and make the innocent resent the uncalled-for abuse of power and rankles the stomachs of fair-minded people around the world who view the INJUSTICE.
EngChiang
Why fee for medical reports
I WOULD like to clarify the points raised by Mr Wong Sie Khiang in his letter, ""Explain $75 fee for medical report'' (ST, July 15).
The fee comprises two distinct components -- one third is for administrative charges and the remainder is paid to the doctor writing the medical report.
The administrative process for a medical-report application involves coordination of several processes such as tracing the patient's medical case notes, channelling the records to the appropriate doctor(s), monitoring the status of application, verifying and checking the report for completeness before it is sent finally to the applicant.
Time is required for a doctor to review the entire medical record of the patient, analyse and interpret several investigative procedures -- X-rays, lab tests, scans, etc before penning the report.
This is in addition to time spent during the consultation with a patient. It is standard worldwide practice for a patient to pay for a medical report.
Incidentally, Mr Wong should be writing to the National Heart Centre (NHC) and not to the Ministry of Health (MOH) to clarify administrative matters pertaining to NHC. It is NHC which determines charges and fees and MOH is not involved directly.
I would like to thank Mr Wong for the opportunity to clarify the matter.
LIM YEAN LENG
Director
National Heart Centre