World Bank President Jim-Yong Kim praised the Singapore’s healthcare system when he was visiting Singapore on Friday (18 Jul), following his visits to Vietnam and the Philippines.
He told Singapore’s media that he extended his trip to Singapore, so that he can see for himself what makes it tick.
“I don’t think there’s a single system in the world that spends as little as Singapore does in terms of percentage of GDP (in healthcare) and gets the outcomes that it gets. That’s why I’m here. I know that there’re always challenges, and one of the challenges that has been talked about is getting more people to use the primary healthcare system first, “said Dr Kim.
“This is a problem that’s common to many developed countries, and so it’s one of the things that’s been done very, very well – healthcare – but also we may even be able to bring some lessons here,” Dr Kim added.
Besides healthcare, he was also interested to learn about Singapore’s approach to urban planning and water management.
It was his first visit to Singapore since he took office as the World Bank chief in 2012.
“The bottom line here is what we see in Singapore is we see a government that is extremely focused on execution, and actually delivering results for their population, which at the same time is completely open so that market forces and good government execution come together in the success story of Singapore,” Dr Kim continued.
“Every country in the world is trying to get there, to be able to have their government put together policies and execute in the way that Singapore is doing, while at the same time opening up their economy, so that foreign direct investment and companies from all over the world want to come here.”
Dr Kim is a Korean-American physician and anthropologist who is the 12th President of the World Bank.
He was President of Dartmouth College from 2009 to 2012 and formerly the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was the first Asian-American president of an Ivy League institution.
On 23 March 2012, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would nominate Dr Kim as the next president of the World Bank to replace Mr Robert Zoellick. On April 16, Dr Kim was elected to head the World Bank and took office on 1 July 2012.
Even though the total health expenditure (including private and public) as a percentage of GDP may be low for Singapore as compared to those of other first world countries, Singapore’s public spending in healthcare as a percentage of total tells a different story.
Dr Kim may like to know that the Singapore Govt spends the least in healthcare, in terms of percentage of total health expenditure among the first world countries:
World Bank 2012 Public exp as % of total Health total exp as % GDP
Denmark 85.5 11.2
Norway 85.1 9.0
Luxembourg 84.5 6.9
New Zealand 82.7 10.3
Japan 82.5 10.1
United Kingdom 82.5 9.4
Sweden 81.7 9.6
Iceland 80.7 9.1
Netherlands 79.8 12.4
Italy 78.2 9.2
France 76.9 11.7
Germany 76.3 11.3
Belgium 75.9 10.8
Austria 75.5 11.5
Finland 75.4 9.1
Spain 73.6 9.6
Canada 70.1 10.9
Greece 67.5 9.3
Australia 66.9 9.1
Ireland 64.4 8.1
Portugal 62.6 9.4
Israel 61.7 7.5
Switzerland 61.7 11.3
Korea 54.4 7.5
United States 46.4 17.9
Singapore 37.6 4.7
Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.PUBL/countries, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS/countries
What this means is that in Singapore, health expenditure is majority funded through private means like individual’s savings (including Medisave), cash or personal insurance.
Hence, Dr Kim should know that it is the Singaporeans who are paying most of the healthcare bills themselves in Singapore.
http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/07/21/world-bank-president-praises-sgs-healthcare-system/
He told Singapore’s media that he extended his trip to Singapore, so that he can see for himself what makes it tick.
“I don’t think there’s a single system in the world that spends as little as Singapore does in terms of percentage of GDP (in healthcare) and gets the outcomes that it gets. That’s why I’m here. I know that there’re always challenges, and one of the challenges that has been talked about is getting more people to use the primary healthcare system first, “said Dr Kim.
“This is a problem that’s common to many developed countries, and so it’s one of the things that’s been done very, very well – healthcare – but also we may even be able to bring some lessons here,” Dr Kim added.
Besides healthcare, he was also interested to learn about Singapore’s approach to urban planning and water management.
It was his first visit to Singapore since he took office as the World Bank chief in 2012.
“The bottom line here is what we see in Singapore is we see a government that is extremely focused on execution, and actually delivering results for their population, which at the same time is completely open so that market forces and good government execution come together in the success story of Singapore,” Dr Kim continued.
“Every country in the world is trying to get there, to be able to have their government put together policies and execute in the way that Singapore is doing, while at the same time opening up their economy, so that foreign direct investment and companies from all over the world want to come here.”
Dr Kim is a Korean-American physician and anthropologist who is the 12th President of the World Bank.
He was President of Dartmouth College from 2009 to 2012 and formerly the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was the first Asian-American president of an Ivy League institution.
On 23 March 2012, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would nominate Dr Kim as the next president of the World Bank to replace Mr Robert Zoellick. On April 16, Dr Kim was elected to head the World Bank and took office on 1 July 2012.
Even though the total health expenditure (including private and public) as a percentage of GDP may be low for Singapore as compared to those of other first world countries, Singapore’s public spending in healthcare as a percentage of total tells a different story.
Dr Kim may like to know that the Singapore Govt spends the least in healthcare, in terms of percentage of total health expenditure among the first world countries:
World Bank 2012 Public exp as % of total Health total exp as % GDP
Denmark 85.5 11.2
Norway 85.1 9.0
Luxembourg 84.5 6.9
New Zealand 82.7 10.3
Japan 82.5 10.1
United Kingdom 82.5 9.4
Sweden 81.7 9.6
Iceland 80.7 9.1
Netherlands 79.8 12.4
Italy 78.2 9.2
France 76.9 11.7
Germany 76.3 11.3
Belgium 75.9 10.8
Austria 75.5 11.5
Finland 75.4 9.1
Spain 73.6 9.6
Canada 70.1 10.9
Greece 67.5 9.3
Australia 66.9 9.1
Ireland 64.4 8.1
Portugal 62.6 9.4
Israel 61.7 7.5
Switzerland 61.7 11.3
Korea 54.4 7.5
United States 46.4 17.9
Singapore 37.6 4.7
Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.PUBL/countries, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS/countries
What this means is that in Singapore, health expenditure is majority funded through private means like individual’s savings (including Medisave), cash or personal insurance.
Hence, Dr Kim should know that it is the Singaporeans who are paying most of the healthcare bills themselves in Singapore.
http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/07/21/world-bank-president-praises-sgs-healthcare-system/
