True story of a poor Singaporean family: Medisave is not your money

makapaaa

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[TD="class: msgtxt"][h=3]True story of a poor Singaporean family: Medisave is not your money[/h]11/23/2011 09:48:00 AM Temasek Revealed 3 comments
78-year-old Singaporean Sapri Amat suffers from hypertension, cataract and a gout attack which left him bed-ridden. His wife Madam Piah has cancer and their son Mohamad Sapri was forced to left his job about two years ago to care for his elderly parents.

Despite having Medisave in their respective CPF accounts, they are not allowed to touch the fund for Madam Piah's cancer treatment and hospital appointments.The family still have to pay about $60 in cash every month in medical expenses.

Madam Piah is however have rather optimistic about her plight: "I feel better. There are now people to look after me. If not, there is only me taking care of my husband, along with my son."

TOUCH Home Care provides transport for Madam Piah from her home to the hospital. It is also one of the only two voluntary welfare organisations (VWO) to provide home care services in the West because of PAP's under-investment in the people's healthcare. In just two months, its staff of 10 are now catering to the needs of 30 clients, a number it hopes to expand to some 300 within the next two years.

Currently Medisave is not allowed to be used for outpatient appointments. This have burdened many poor and sickly Singaporeans like the Sapri's family. Although the PAP acknowledges that cost is still a big factor, they do not see the urgency to allow people to use their own CPF money to pay for medical expenses.

PAP must be reminded that the CPF is the people's own hard-earned money and not theirs to keep. Especially when it comes to healthcare, it makes no sense having to sacrifice a meal for treatment. The PAP government spend the lowest on healthcare as compared to most countries because Singaporeans do not enjoy any form of welfare. Rather, $14million of our taxes have been spent on subsidizing foreigners every year, while the poor suffer everyday living in hell. Its no wonder suicides in Singapore have gone off the chart during the past 10 years. [/TD]
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