Living in Singapore, the medical system is also a great concern. In Singapore, the medical system is designed from low to high level by level, and different levels of doctors or hospitals have different responsibilities. The following is an introduction to how to get medical treatment for your life in Singapore.
Currently there are 15 public hospitals and medical centers in Singapore including 6 general hospitals, a women's and children's hospital, medical centers, a psychiatric hospital and 6 specialized cancer, heart, eye, skin, neuroscience, and dental care centers, and 21 private hospitals and specialist clinics. In addition, Singapore has more than 2,000 general practitioners (GPs) and community hospitals in every neighborhood to provide timely healthcare to recovering patients as well as the elderly who do not need to travel to a general hospital.
1. What to do if you are sick? What to know about Singapore's healthcare system
①Family doctors (clinics)
The primary healthcare provider in Singapore is the family doctor. Family doctors are well established in many countries. For example, in the United States (US) (housing stock), patients who see a doctor usually go to their own family doctor first. If necessary, the family doctor arranges for the patient to visit a major hospital or contacts a specialist to see the patient. The definition of a family doctor in Singapore is slightly different from that of the United States, ranging from a private doctor who specializes in a particular family or individual, to a small, self-sustaining clinic. A family doctor usually rents a small store room in the community and runs a one-man clinic.
The family doctor is the equivalent of the most popular and basic layer of the health care system. Any patient who goes to a family doctor will be seen by the doctor. With symptoms like fever and cough, the patient himself may already know that it is a cold, and the purpose of going to the family doctor is to confirm the diagnosis and get medicine; the doctor confirms that the condition is a cold, and so prescribes medicine to the patient. The visit is quickly concluded and is a short visit with a small fee. However, if the family doctor is unable to diagnose the condition, the family doctor will issue a referral order and refer her to another specialist hospital or polyclinic, where the visit will take longer and cost more.
There are primary healthcare centers in almost every residential area in Singapore, covering every corner of the country. These state-owned medical centers provide quality medical and dental care. They act as a one-stop health center providing outpatient treatment, follow up of discharged patients, vaccinations, health screening and education, pharmacy.
②Specialists
Compared to specialists, family doctors require relatively low qualifications, and can run a private practice with the level of a primary care physician. One level higher than the family doctor is the specialist. Specialists have opened their own hospitals, equipped with more comprehensive medical equipment, making it easier for patients to receive comprehensive examinations and treatments. Patients are also subsidized if they are referred to general hospitals by their family doctors.
Singapore has established a good two-way referral system between private clinics and public hospitals. Residents go to their family doctor's small clinic first, and when the clinic thinks it needs a referral, it issues a certificate, and the patient goes to a specialist hospital with the certificate, or else his or her expenses at the hospital are not subsidized by the government, a measure that reduces the burden on the big hospitals.
2. Emergency hospitalization to general hospitals
General hospitals offer multidisciplinary emergency hospitalization and specialist outpatient services and 24-hour emergency care. These public sector hospitals are operated as private limited companies, which ensures competitiveness with a high level of service and quality, and they are far superior to "public hospitals" in other countries. These public hospitals are capable of handling very complex medical conditions and patients transferred from other neighboring countries. The entire environment of these large general hospitals can be said to be much better than their Chinese counterparts.
Not only are there the usual functional areas of a hospital, but there are also dining and other service areas that are convenient for patients, very spacious, comfortable, and convenient; cleanliness and hygiene are even more impeccable. The walls on both sides of the aisle are decorated with Western-style pictures. Waiting area are relevant medical knowledge and introduction and the day of a variety of Chinese and English newspapers and magazines, for people to read. The waiting area for senior doctors at the National Medical Center is a star hotel, with soft carpets, comfortable sofas, a variety of pleasing furnishings, as well as flowers and trees in the sky gardens outside the window, which relaxes one's mood.
The public is very relaxed, and there are no crowds of people in the domestic hospitals. Why are there so few people? This is because Singapore has a strict triage system, where patients are first seen in community hospitals, and are referred there before coming back to general hospitals. Of course, you can also go directly to the general hospital, but the registration fee can be a sky-high.
3. Private versus public hospitals
Singapore's healthcare system has a clear division of labor, with outpatient care being provided by a variety of healthcare providers, and inpatient care being provided primarily by public hospitals. The share of public and private healthcare is 20% and 80% for outpatients and 80% and 20% for inpatients respectively. Consultation in public healthcare facilities generally requires an appointment, with long waiting time and no free choice of doctors. Private healthcare facilities, with fewer patients, do not require an appointment and also have a shorter waiting time for doctors of their choice. Singapore's public hospitals and private hospitals play different and complementary roles, which are essential. In public hospitals, doctors have to deal with a large number of patients and have a much shorter time to serve each patient. In private hospitals, there are fewer patients, and doctors are able to communicate more with patients and provide them with more comprehensive services.
Private hospitals in Singapore, like other countries, are market-based. Most of the doctors who provide consultations in private hospitals are full-time practitioners in public hospitals, and occasionally go to private hospitals on a part-time basis. Most of the private hospitals offer premium or VIP rooms. Since most of the private hospitals are located in busy urban areas and the doctors need to fulfill their duties in the public hospitals before they can consult in the private hospitals, the cost of the private hospitals will be higher than that of the public hospitals, however, this does not mean that the services provided by the public hospitals are inferior to those provided by the private hospitals. The environment for foreigners visiting public hospitals is very good as they can only apply for a Class A room, which is completely segregated from the rest of the hospitals.
Public hospitals also have the important responsibility of being the final gateway for students to become doctors. In Singapore, after graduation, medical students must first study, train and serve in public hospitals for a period of time. It is only after they have passed the internship that they are considered to have really "graduated" and qualified as doctors, and then they can choose to enter private hospitals or open their own clinics. Private hospitals serve high-end patients and although they have fewer patients, they give more care to each patient and therefore charge more. Certain public hospitals in Singapore also provide medical services to a small number of self-funded patients with premium services as there are some wealthy patients who prefer to go to the public hospitals and if it comes to the most basic facilities and services, the public hospitals are cheaper than the private hospitals. If it is a high-grade service program, public and private are the same.