The boring 'secret' to being rich

Has anyone been to a polyclinic or a govt hospital recently?

It's a bit like investing.

Based on someone's third person account, we add our own assumptions and perceptions. Wha la! An investing thesis is formed!

A small minority however will go kick the tyre to experience it for yourselves

Trust but verify.

OK. OK.
What everyone says may be the truth or some truth. But now if you need to be referred to see a specialist from poly-clinic you just have to "Tang Koo Koo". So much longer than years ago. No matter how serious your case(illness) which should received immediate attention. Then maybe the chance of survival is so much higher. You see there are just too many like you on the waiting list. And it's getting more and more with POP. Explosion.
Even HK has a quota for Mainland's expecting mothers, giving birth in HK. And they are actually the same country. How Singapore cope? Is there also a quota system?
i think if i am not mistaken it is the same or worst in UK or other welfare country.

There is a KOPI SHOP saying, "Boh Lui Buay Heow Kin. Buay Sai Phua Pei". i suppose critical illness that needs to be treated immediately is the worst case.
To be fair it is the same anywhere in the world.
No Money, No Talk.

Well i for one work in a polyclinic & have been working for a few years.
The volumes are not so much as may be 20 years earlier( I heard from veterans) but the waiting times are still horrible.
last time most common cases were cough flu & MC seekers, but now a days u see old uncle auntie with many complicated conditions so Drs need to spend more time. Also pts are armed with information from google & wikipedia & Drs cannot any how tai qi pts as they used to do it in the past.

so things have changed but the waiting times are still the same

I wonder why our local universities train so many engineers yet restrict the quota of doctors and dentists. Nowadays, the dentists near my place charge $65 for a simple cleaning in 15 minutes. I thought it is ridiculous. Imagine a toilet cleaner earns not more than $65 for working the whole day.

I think the system will Be fairer if our universities train more doctors and dentists so that they have less of a "monopoly"

getting more doctors is not going to improve the health care, the whole system needs to change.

but i will not go into the details as this is an investment forum not healthcare forum :p

(08-01-2014, 10:54 AM)safetyfirst Wrote: I wonder why our local universities train so many engineers yet restrict the quota of doctors and dentists. Nowadays, the dentists near my place charge $65 for a simple cleaning in 15 minutes. I thought it is ridiculous. Imagine a toilet cleaner earns not more than $65 for working the whole day.

I think the system will Be fairer if our universities train more doctors and dentists so that they have less of a "monopoly"

I don't know about doctors but from what a dentist friend told me, nobody wants to go teach when they earn so much more practicing!

And yes I think dentist charge ridiculous prices. My friend earns more than my monthly paycheck in moonlighting in 2 weeks

(08-01-2014, 10:54 AM)safetyfirst Wrote: I wonder why our local universities train so many engineers yet restrict the quota of doctors and dentists. Nowadays, the dentists near my place charge $65 for a simple cleaning in 15 minutes. I thought it is ridiculous. Imagine a toilet cleaner earns not more than $65 for working the whole day.

I think the system will Be fairer if our universities train more doctors and dentists so that they have less of a "monopoly"

other countries already trained for you. just let some in. I heard that nowaday poly grads also can clean teeth..

nowaday poly grads also can clean teeth..
--> that is the point, i think this cleaning teeth can be easily trained but why is the price so high? $65 each time leh! I mean it is fair if you pay thousands for specialised services such as braces, etc.

IMO, sometimes it is more important to regulate such services than to argue over a 1 or 2% increase in transport fares

that is why I said more doctors is not a solution.
there are many things which can be taken over by nurses & other trained staff but stringent regulation by SMC & SDC make it impossible for anyone except doctors to do most of the stuff. hence there is an artificial scarcity of health care staff coz Doctor has to do everything.

Also the need to take MC when u are sick which is only peculiar to Singapore among the whole of the developed world. many GP's just survive on MC only & dont do the real health care stuff.

hence we need to change the system.

(08-01-2014, 11:57 AM)safetyfirst Wrote: nowaday poly grads also can clean teeth..
--> that is the point, i think this cleaning teeth can be easily trained but why is the price so high? $65 each time leh! I mean it is fair if you pay thousands for specialised services such as braces, etc.

IMO, sometimes it is more important to regulate such services than to argue over a 1 or 2% increase in transport fares

This is where I bring out the usual: Goh asset enhancement policies has screwed up Singapore by creating the asset-inflation-CPI feedback loop. How can prices be low when rentals and bank loans interest are fed back into CPI via asset inflation when property changed hand. All the money goes to landlords and REITS and stat boards.