Singapore: Asean’s medical hub

In three special-ties alone – heart, eye and cancer – I see tens of millions of middle-class patients within a seven-hour flying radius, waiting to be served," thus did acting Minister of Health Khaw Boon Wan verbalize his vision for Singapore Medicine during its launch late October at the Camden Medical Center.

In 2002, 200,000 foreign patients arrived in Singapore. "But our dream was much more ambitious. With 500 million people in the Asean region, just 10 percent alone would be sizable for our healthcare sector," expounded the acting health minister. In fact, Singapore’s Economic Review Committee projected a target of serving one million foreign patients annually by 2012.

The health minister challenged Singapore though to ensure that medical treatment would be revolutionary but reasonably priced. He has a reason to be concerned. Shortly after he joined the Ministry of Health in 1978, Mt. Elizabeth Hospital opened. It became known as the "Indonesian hospital" because it served more foreigners than locals. Wages of doctors and nurses have risen since then, pushing the cost of healthcare.

He rallied the medical community and hospital managers to follow the model of Toyota. The Japanese carmakers went to Detroit to study the technology and went back home to build cost-effective cars. "Toyota produces Corolla for the masses and Lexus for those who demand more. It also takes part in the Formula One race. Likewise, for the common medical conditions that the bulk of our patients come to us for treatment, we ensure maximum reliability, zero defects and the lowest possible cost. These are our Corollas," he added. To push affordable healthcare to realization, the Ministry of Health publishes on its website price comparisons of the common medical conditions.

The Lexus of the hospital industry is reserved for patients who are after the frills, added services, exclusive attention and extra pampering.

Visiting a hospital always makes me sick or at least gives me a headache. The strong antiseptic vinyl hospital hallway – narrow and in boring white – is not at all pleasing.

On the other hand, you should see the reception lounges of the major hospitals in Singapore – they look more like business hotels. They are spacious with high ceilings, comfy with huge leather chairs, and front desk staff garbed like hotel valets and receptionists. The Raffles Hospital even has a grand piano in the lobby.

Expert Medical Care Closer To Home

Filipinos are more Westernized than their Asean neighbors. That is evident in our choice of where to send our children for master degrees, where to migrate, or where to go for long vacations. Hence, it is not surprising that almost all those I personally know who go abroad for expert medical treatment or even diagnosis go to the United States.

But then, I have long heard about the expertise of Singapore hospitals. I know of an Indian couple based in Thailand who couldn’t have a child. Ten years ago, they went to Singapore for IVF. The result was positive. An Indonesian couple close to us have three children, all of them delivered at Raffles Hospital in Singapore. Their father, a physician and chairman of a leading pharmaceutical company, goes to either Singapore or Australia for checkup or treatment.

After making the rounds of the top hospitals in Singapore as a visitor of Singapore Medicine, viewing their hardware, and experiencing the "software," I myself am convinced that Singapore is a good choice for expert medical diagnosis or treatment outside Manila. Flying time for one is a mere fraction of the trip to the United States. Also, with the increase in foreign patients as a thrust, Singapore hospitals have a whole department dedicated to visiting international patients.

Everything works like clockwork. You can call the Raffles International Patients Centre at 6563111666 (or visit enquiries@ raffleshospital.com) and they will help arrange for the patient’s transport to Singapore even to the extent of getting a private plane.

A Raffles airport doctor (Raffles hospital runs three clinics at Changi and two at the Hong Kong airport) meets the patient on a stretcher buggy for a seamless and worry-free transport to a waiting ambulance. Hospital staff assists with travel planning, flight arrangements, visa, accommodation, medical escort, interpreter service, currency exchange and concierge services.

Ever since Raffles performed two very high-profile separation surgeries last July, it has earned a reputation as a hospital capable of handling complex medical cases for surgery or treatment. It is also proud of its unique group practice model where all doctors are employees of the hospital as opposed to individual practitioners. With this system, it is easy to assemble a multidisciplinary team of specialists within a very short time.

Singapore Medicine is the multi-agency government office working to make Singapore a regional medical hub. The agencies involved are the Economic Development Board, Singapore Tourism Board and the International Enterprise Singapore. When WHO released its first worldwide analysis of health systems, Singapore ranked as sixth best in the world (higher than Japan at 10th place and the US at 37th). The top markets for Singapore hospitals still remain to be Indonesia and Malaysia, but the awareness of other Asean neighbors as well as South Asia, UK, US, Australia and New Zealand is increasing.

Singapore has a long medical bragging list of world’s or Asia’s first. These include the world’s first successful cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor on a patient with Thalassaemia Major, first in the world to harvest stem cells and grow them in the laboratory for use in eye treatment, successful separation of a pair of Siamese twins joined at the head after a 90-hour operation, and successful separation of a pair of four-month-old Korean twins conjoined at the lower back after a five-hour operation.

Aside from Raffles, the other Singapore hospitals with departments for international patient services and 24-hour hotlines include the Parkway Group, one of Asia’s largest private healthcare organizations that include Mount Elizabeth, Gleneagles and East Shore with tel. no. 6567355000, the National Healthcare Group with tel. no. 6567792777, Singapore Health Services International with tel. no. 6563265656 and the Thomson Medical Centre with tel. no. 6562501965.

The Singapore hospitals do not leave anything to chance. They have a keen eye for detail, with all the sensitivity and sensibilities of making treatment away from home pleasant and comfortable. It is breathing spa life into a hospital, completing it with pleasing and colorful paintings, warm lights, Zen gardens, outdoor coffee shops, meditation rooms, classy lounges, an array of lifestyle magazines for guests, corners for children to play in, all in a very clean atmosphere minus the antiseptic stench.

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E-mail mylene@goldsgym.ph for questions and comments.