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- Dec 30, 2010
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DON’T SETTLE FOR STOP-GAP
The announcements yesterday are encouraging. Even more encouraging is the recognition that more infrastructure, a much larger healthcare workforce and much more funding are necessary but insufficient.
Nonetheless, there is cause for concern. The healthcare challenges facing us today are a crisis in slow motion. There is a real danger we will lose momentum and be satisfied with stop-gap measures, falsely believing they will suffice.
The heart surgeon may be happy after a successful implantation of a device as a “bridge to transplant” for a failing heart, but he does not let up on finding a suitable heart for transplant.
“With an ageing population, rising labour costs and the use of expensive technology in modern medicine, further increases in healthcare expenditure are to be expected … There is therefore an urgent need to seek out and use cost-effective approaches to healthcare.”
These words could have been spoken in the hallowed chambers of Parliament yesterday, but they were actually written in 1991 by then Minister of State for Health Dr Aline Wong, on behalf of the Review Committee on National Health Policies.
Did we drop the ball?
- http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/laying-groundwork-heart-transplant
The announcements yesterday are encouraging. Even more encouraging is the recognition that more infrastructure, a much larger healthcare workforce and much more funding are necessary but insufficient.
Nonetheless, there is cause for concern. The healthcare challenges facing us today are a crisis in slow motion. There is a real danger we will lose momentum and be satisfied with stop-gap measures, falsely believing they will suffice.
The heart surgeon may be happy after a successful implantation of a device as a “bridge to transplant” for a failing heart, but he does not let up on finding a suitable heart for transplant.
“With an ageing population, rising labour costs and the use of expensive technology in modern medicine, further increases in healthcare expenditure are to be expected … There is therefore an urgent need to seek out and use cost-effective approaches to healthcare.”
These words could have been spoken in the hallowed chambers of Parliament yesterday, but they were actually written in 1991 by then Minister of State for Health Dr Aline Wong, on behalf of the Review Committee on National Health Policies.
Did we drop the ball?
- http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/laying-groundwork-heart-transplant
