TR EMERITUS

This goes out to those people who think that the Singapore government by not seriously subsidizing healthcare costs, is being prudent: https://www.tremeritus.net/2014/07/19/healthcare-im-thankful-we-have-a-prudent-govt-in-sg/ If the above thread was never posted, I might not have replied because I think the Singapore government has passed just barely in this area but nevertheless passed. But if anyone thinks that the Singapore government has done a good job here, they need a loud wake-up call to reality. Have you heard of the UK's National Health Service? The NHS was founded in 1948 and is primarily funded through central taxation. The NHS provides a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use for people legally resident in the United Kingdom. We are not talking about subsidized healthcare here, we are talking FREE as in totally without cost! Years ago when a relative visited England, he had a medical issue and was treated at a hospital in London. At the end of which, he paid absolutely nothing! That was when treatment to citizens of ex-Commonwealth Countries was free. Now that has stopped but the free treatment still applies to those resident in the UK. A system like the NHS would have financial problems like the Japanese healthcare system and hospitals run by the NHS have closed. Do a simple Google Search and you will find numerous articles about financial problems encountered by the NHS. But guess what? The NHS is still around to this day and believe it or not, hospitals have not vanished from the UK. In fact, going by statistics from The World Bank, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.MED.BEDS.ZS, the UK has almost 50% more beds per capita than Singapore! So to put things succinctly, how has "prudence" benefited the healthcare system in Singapore? Now let me ask a simple question. What is more important? - "Prudent government spending" or allowing citizens access to affordable medical care? If the answer is "prudent government spending", then bearing in mind that the UK has more than 10 times Singapore's population but pips Singapore in per capita beds, then one can only conclude that the Singapore government is far less efficient than the UK's in this area because aside from the fact that there are more available hospital beds in the UK, the UK also provides free healthcare! The outlook of the NHS is best summed up in this quote from its website: http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/about/Pages/overview.aspx "The NHS in England is undergoing some big changes, most of which will take effect on April 1 2013. This will include the abolition of primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) and the introduction of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and Healthwatch England. However, none of this will have an effect on how you access front-line services and your healthcare will remain free at the point of use." As you can see, financial struggles are very much a part of the NHS's daily operational considerations. But in spite of that, they have kept things better than the Singapore healthcare system because to the UK government and most other democratically elected governments, the welfare of those that vote for them is far more important than maintaining a "prudent" government budget.   AiYoYo * Submitted by TRE reader    Read More →

This is the latest in a series of sexual assault cases that have made headlines in India (17 Jul) - A six-year-old schoolgirl has allegedly been raped by two staff members at a prominent school in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, police say. The alleged assault happened on 2 July but her parents discovered it only a few days ago after she complained of stomach ache and was taken to hospital. Meanwhile, hundreds of parents have protested outside the school, pulling down its gates and shouting slogans. Police have registered a case, but they are yet to make any arrests.   Read more:   http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-28340617    Read More →

Brian Lim, is a Space Entrepreneur, One of the leading individuals in Australia around the development of Space Startups in Australia, He works around creating both new technology and business which will enable Australia to enter the space Race. He is also the Curator of TedxUltimoLive. ‘….Encourage bold visions and idea, no matter what they are. One of the reasons why Singaporeans overseas do not want to come back, is because the smallness of the vision of the local population. The big bold visions draws out the best in us, they draw people to us. No one believed me when I first said we could build a space industry on our own, now 18 months later, the Australian government is supporting its creation along with Universities and Commercial entities in the creation of the Delta –V which is now leading the creation of the Space Industry in Australia. Reduce the amount of red tape to experiment. At Singularity University, I am investigating, Bio electric batteries, next generation drone flight systems, Genetic Modifying organism, and new ways of traveling into space. We know that we can’t do all of them, but we can test all our ideas and experiments on them to validate them.This is incredibly useful for generating new ideas and validating old ones. I intend to already build a similar facility back in Sydney to support the space industry….’ Above is part of a letter from a Brian Lim to Jack Sim explaining why he would not return to Singapore. That is not all. If he had not migrated to Australia, he would probably be a hawker or someone peddling goods in the pasar malams. This Brian Lim did poorly in his PSLE, ended in the Normal Stream, repeated his O level, and failed in polytechnic. What kind of prospect or jobs would he be fit to do? Today he earned a Masters in Space and working in NASA in Singularity University in Australia. Would he be invited to be a returned FT? Can we find the reason why there is no talent among Singaporeans and why other countries are producing so many talents? If a PSLE failure can be remoulded into a top talent, surely all the straight As and near straight As students must be better potentials. But no, they are not even good enough to compete against 3rd World funny degree graduates. And this Brian Lim is not a single or exceptional story. There are many Singaporeans overseas that are rejects of our educational system but earning Masters and PhDs and working in high tech, science and engineering industries. Can we figure out what is wrong with this kind of developments? And look at what this Brian Lim is doing, ‘investigating Bio electric batteries, next generation drone flight systems, Genetic Modifying organism, and new ways of traveling into space.’ Some of our super talents would laugh out their dentures if they found out Brian Lim failed his PSLE. Brian is employed by the Australian govt in space exploration and space mining. What are our local talents doing, building more costly shopping centres and monuments? Or maybe trying to study solar flares, earthquakes and tsunamis or desert storms. There have been many stories of our failed students that turned out to be gems in foreign educational systems. How many of our Einsteins have been wasted in the process and going through the decades of our educational system?   Chua Chin Leng aka redbean * The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenew.blogspot.com  Read More →