Sunday, June 28, 2015

Time to stop an unnecessary and wasteful practice

My doctor prescribed medication to treat my medical condition. The clinic assistant asked me to pay $30. I said, "charge to my grandfather". She asked, "who is he?". I showed her my Pioneer Generation Card. She had a good laugh - hahaha.

But, I still have to pay $2. The remaining $28 is deducted from "my grandfather".

Why is there a need to pay the $2 and create extra work for the clinic assistant?

Perhaps, it was due to Mr. LKY. He did say that people should pay something, however small, so that they know that "nothing is for free".

But that was perhaps 40 years ago. Times have changed. Are these additional work really necessary? The cost of workers must have gone up 10 times. Why continue with this wasteful practice?

Does our current leaders know that Mr. LKY had since departed from this world? Did they not know that we had one week of national mourning for him? It is time for a change. 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Australia, the proposal of charging a nominal $6 in visiting a GP was rejected. It was started when the queuing time to see a GP became unbearable (2 to 3 hours on average). Reason being this service is free (bulk bill) so many elderly grandparents will book GP appointment in regular interval in advance in case they or their grandchildren need to visit the clinic, so the advance booking is handy. Many believe that this $6 will deter the abuse of using this free service.

We all know how Singaporeans react to free gifts, does not matter they have to queue under the sun for hours for something they have no idea how to utilise or with very little value. One good example was the free ice cream distributed near Raffles Place. There were unexpected crowds turned up in office attire. Is it amazing?

$2 may sound a small amount and as Mr Tan said, it also costs to administrate. Without charging, the clinic will be unable to provide the proper service as more will make more frequent visit to chat with the doctors when it is free. What a doctor say in one word is more powerful than thousand words by others. $2 could be too little to work soon.

Tan Kin Lian said...


It is better to give free visits up to 1 visit every 2 months, say, and to charge a fee for more frequent visits. Most of the visits are within the free limit, and only a small number of visits need payment.

Anonymous said...

At NTUC Fairprice supermarket, every Tuesday (?) is a Pioneer day. The Pioneer will receive 3% (?) discount for their total amount of purchase. Some pioneer who can't even walk to the supermarkete, how the Pioneer card benefit them?

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