[h=2]MP Chia on hospital bed crunch: I was misquoted[/h]
January 9th, 2014 |
Author: Editorial
CGH began housing patients waiting for beds in this large air-conditioned tent this week. (Photo: ST)
The media reported yesterday (8 Jan) that a severe bed crunch at Singapore’s public hospitals has forced several of them into taking some extraordinary measures.
Unable to cope with the overwhelming demand for hospital beds, some hospitals have begun housing patients in tents. Others are forced to set up beds along the corridors. Still others are resorting to sending patients to other hospitals which have spare beds for the time being.
Mr Liak Teng Lit, head of Alexandra Health which runs Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), described the bed crunch as “abnormal”, since public hospitals usually experience a dip in patients during this time of the year. But numbers have gone up instead in the last few months.
The media then reported Dr Chia Shi-Lu, MP of Tanjong Pagar GRC, as saying that the crunch might be “due to the holiday season rather than a spike in illnesses”.
Mr Liak said this was possible. He explained how 20 KTPH patients at any one time refuse to be discharged. Some say their families are on holiday, and there is no one at home to take care of them.
The MP’s comment prompted popular blogger, Uncle Chua, to quip [Link], “Our hospitals are now as comfortable as a 5 star hotel and many people took the opportunity to stay in hospitals for R&R.”
MP Chia Shi-Lu
Another prominent blogger, Andrew Loh, also commented on Dr Chia’s remarks in socio-political site The Online Citizen (TOC) [Link], “Dr Chia’s remarks are puzzling for the simple reason that the bed crunch is not a seasonal thing, happening only during the holiday season. In fact, in the past few years, news reports have highlighted the problem regularly.”
“None of these reports seem to have ascribed the shortages to the ‘holiday season’. In fact, shortage of beds seems to occur at all times of the year. The reasons for the shortfall according to these reports, however, are several: an ageing population, a larger foreigner population, and even the presence of medical tourists, all competing for resources.”
Andrew also quoted what the CEO of Changi General Hospital said in 2010, confirming that the population is increasing much faster than the government can create new hospital beds to cope with the demand:
What do you think?
The media reported yesterday (8 Jan) that a severe bed crunch at Singapore’s public hospitals has forced several of them into taking some extraordinary measures.
Unable to cope with the overwhelming demand for hospital beds, some hospitals have begun housing patients in tents. Others are forced to set up beds along the corridors. Still others are resorting to sending patients to other hospitals which have spare beds for the time being.
Mr Liak Teng Lit, head of Alexandra Health which runs Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), described the bed crunch as “abnormal”, since public hospitals usually experience a dip in patients during this time of the year. But numbers have gone up instead in the last few months.
The media then reported Dr Chia Shi-Lu, MP of Tanjong Pagar GRC, as saying that the crunch might be “due to the holiday season rather than a spike in illnesses”.
Mr Liak said this was possible. He explained how 20 KTPH patients at any one time refuse to be discharged. Some say their families are on holiday, and there is no one at home to take care of them.
The MP’s comment prompted popular blogger, Uncle Chua, to quip [Link], “Our hospitals are now as comfortable as a 5 star hotel and many people took the opportunity to stay in hospitals for R&R.”
Another prominent blogger, Andrew Loh, also commented on Dr Chia’s remarks in socio-political site The Online Citizen (TOC) [Link], “Dr Chia’s remarks are puzzling for the simple reason that the bed crunch is not a seasonal thing, happening only during the holiday season. In fact, in the past few years, news reports have highlighted the problem regularly.”
“None of these reports seem to have ascribed the shortages to the ‘holiday season’. In fact, shortage of beds seems to occur at all times of the year. The reasons for the shortfall according to these reports, however, are several: an ageing population, a larger foreigner population, and even the presence of medical tourists, all competing for resources.”
Andrew also quoted what the CEO of Changi General Hospital said in 2010, confirming that the population is increasing much faster than the government can create new hospital beds to cope with the demand:
The population in the east has been increasing. When we built this hospital, it was targeted to have a population of about 900,000. Today, we’ve already exceeded 1.4 million. By 2020, we are looking at about 1.8 million in this part of the island.
Dr Chia however protested that his remarks were misquoted. He replied to a netizen on his Facebook page [Link]:
TOC has a habit of misquoting and misrepresenting comments for their own agenda. Please read the article carefully. I just noted that these problems crop up during some holiday periods due to a variety of reasons, some of which are explained by others in the same article. Having worked in a public hospital for over 15 years, I understand when some patients find it difficult to be discharged during certain periods, and as a rule we do not press them to leave but this does cause a problem for others who may need a bed. Hope this clarifies.
In fact, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong himself acknowledged the shortage of public hospital beds in Singapore during the parliamentary budget debate in 2012 when he had to explain to the House his plans to expand hospital bed capacity [Link]:
Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal, Ms. Lina Chiam and Mr. Gerald Giam highlighted the shortage of hospital beds and asked how we are going to address it. Let me share with this House our long- and short-term plans to expand capacity across the healthcare sector…
Has Andrew misquoted and misrepresented Dr Chia’s “holiday season” remark? Or has Dr Chia misrepresented Andrew instead?
What do you think?
