TR EMERITUS

[Letter first appeared in transitioning.org an unemployed support site run by Gilbert Goh.] Jobless PMET wrote in to warn fellow Singaporeans of ominous situation Good morning Gilbert, I have applied many positions but only received one rejected reply. This job has the lowest salary and qualifications. Yet, I was rejected. All the jobs I applied are within the government. If MOM can’t help much, I’m turning my direction towards the government. Our government encourages Singapore employers to give priority to Singaporeans when it comes to hiring employees. I am sure the civil sector would lead an example in helping jobless fellow Singaporeans. It’s very sad. Now, whenever I wake up, I always ask myself, “What ever happened to my beloved Singapore?” A place where I always pick up litter whenever I see one. I am shocked and dazed. We, Singaporeans are like the lions in the Singapore Zoo. Once they put wildlife lions in our cage, we have nowhere to run. Many are chased out of the cage to go into the wilderness like Johor Bahru, Batam, Indonesia and Thailand. Our zoo handler tells us to be competitive, to keep up. They promised in-house training to let us catch up. Can we? Either we are starved to death or get out of the cage. Or, we keep fighting with the wildlife lions, living in constant struggle. I thought joining the civil sector would provide me a protection barrier against these wildlife animals. They don’t play by the rules. Every now and then, I have to watch my back constantly. After all, it’s a jungle game out there. Twenty years ago, I would have never guessed this coming. I was so happy when Lee Hsien Loong became the PM. I even prayed for his good health. What a twist of fate, as now I must pray for my own survival. I am asking you to post my letter to warn fellow Singaporeans. Don’t laugh at your fellow Singaporeans and read their story like a gossip column. One day, your turn will come. Regards Lynn  Read More →

This article is in response to PAP MP Janil Puthucheary, who once opined that his practice of medicine is a kind of "National Service". His article, entitled "Politicising Healthcare leads us down a slippery slope"  was published in Today. I have ever told a reporter from SPH that EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that concerns the welfare and interests of citizens, ARE POLITICAL. Maybe the Honorable MP Janil Puthucheary should get a basic lecture on Politics 101 here. You cannot just jump into mere policies without going through the scrutiny of politics. His view put up in this newspaper report has shown how naive and out of the touch he is from the ground reality. He may draw his conclusion that beds along corridors and in tentages are "not the norm" because "official statistics" show that the average occupancy rate is less than 80%. This is the key problem with "elite technocrats" who only try to understand and rule from their ivory towers looking at "statistics" only. They should go down to the ground, the hospitals' A&E departments to take a good look for themselves. Hospitals in Singapore will most probably NOT "100% full" at any time of the year basically because of the classification of wards we have in our public "structured" hospitals. i.e. there are Class A, Class B1 and B2 beds with Class C beds which will be most likely be 100% full most of the time! The higher class beds will not be fully occupied and these are mostly there to cater to "Healthcare Tourism" in which foreigners with deep pockets will fly all the way here from the region for their medical needs. Thus it explains the discrepancy between what NORMAL Singaporeans  experienced on the ground and what statistics these elites read from their Ivory Tower. They should have a good look at the BREAKDOWN statistics on the occupancy rates for the different Class of beds instead of giving a false impression of everything is good on the ground! The photo you see here (at the top of this piece) from Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) shows how bad the situation is. KTPH not only lack sufficient beds in the wards but it also lacks experienced Senior Consultants in its group of doctors. My mother was admitted to KTPH just a couple of weeks ago but our family members were told that some of those patients in the observation ward has been waiting more than a day and yet not able to get a proper bed in the wards. Most have to wait for two days before they can get properly warded. The condition in these observation wards in the A&E departments are very bad. Beds were squeezed in and put along the corridors if the situation was worse. You may think this only happens in KTPH but no, it is happening all over Singapore. I have friends who have relatives or family members admitted to Changi Hospital, TTSH, NUH, SGH.... etc, all gave this similar account of how bad the situation is. For my mother, we decided to discharge her "against doctor's advice". The key problem is, do we really have a choice not to discharge her? The THIRD WORLD condition of Singapore hospitals will increase the risk of cross-infections of unknown bacterias and for elderly people of over 80 years old like my mother, just cannot take such risk. After 12 hours of wait, we finally got her discharged. Elites like the Honorable MP Janil Puthucheary may not experience the same situation ordinary people like us when it comes to critical hospital care because most probably he or his family members could afford private hospital services or Class A beds. MPs and Ministers will have really "PRIVILEGED" treatment whereby you can get admitted immediately with a ward ready for you. But please don't assume that every Singaporeans also enjoy that kinds of privileges you are having. If we opposition members didn't POLITICISE such matters, I guess people in PAP like the Honorable Janil Puthucheary would still live and dream in their Lala Land that how wonderful and fantastic our healthcare system is. I just have to keep POLITICISING this THIRD WORLD healthcare system for Singaporeans, First World Healthcare for the privileged few and wealthy foreigners until PAP gets drilled into their heads of how bad the situation is on the ground. And of course, I will also have to remind PAP that after FOUR WHOLE YEARS of EMPTY PROMISES in 2010 from the former Minister for Health, the Honorable Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, situation in public hospitals have not improved BUT most probably deteriorated further! Hospital care is about LIFE and DEATH to everybody. This is not something PAP and Janil Puthucheary should take lightly and brush it aside as "politicising" or "politicking". Appropriate, adequate and timely hospital care are just too important to people with a medical condition serious enough to be warded. Janil Puthucheary and PAP should not just take it as just another set of "statistics" and digits. These are Human LIVES we are talking about. As a doctor, Janil Puthucheary should know that to pack so many patients in a crowded ward and corridors will subject these patients to dangerous cross-infections of virus and bacterias! How could he just brush aside such problem so lightly? I have to remind PAP again, all these have to do with the GDP GROWTH AT ALL COST of PAP's 6.9million FT policy as well as the "Cost Recovery" aim of public hospitals' involvement of Healthcare Tourism which eventually resulted in a total neglect in Singaporeans' public healthcare needs. Furthermore, we could possibly build more hospitals and infrastructures easily but doctors need time to groom and gain experience to become Senior Consultants in public hospitals! If we do not expand the capacity of our local universities' facilities and intake of medicine students, I do not see how the whole system can cope with the DOUBLE STRESS in demands from Medical Tourism and aggressive population growth. Last but not least, if there is a big disaster, be it natural or otherwise, happening in Singapore, I guess our hospital system will eventually crumble and collapse. It will not just a matter of losing face then, but LIVES! AND that that is of course, POLITICAL! I hope PAP government and the Honorable Doctor MP should stop paying lips service and fantasize on how good our healthcare system is but get down the the HARD TRUTH. Medical Tourism HAS TO BE STOPPED for government public hospitals and those Class A and B wards should all be converted into C class to maximize bed capacity immediately. For those rich and wealthy people who want to "enjoy" better rooms, they could choose private hospitals. If PAP doesn't act fast to correct such prolonged and chronic shortage of hospital beds, it will have to pay the price POLITICALLY. Goh Meng Seng * The writer blogs at http://singaporealternatives.blogspot.com/    Read More →

Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Alvin Yeo, who is also the Managing Partner of WongPartnership LLP. Last year, when Dr Susan Lim lost her court case against the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) over its assertions that she had overcharged her patient, the sister of Queen of Brunei, Dr Lim was ordered to pay the SMC's costs, including the legal fees of SMC's law firm. At the time, SMC was represented by Senior Counsel Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho of WongPartnership LLP. Alvin Yeo is also an MP of Chua Chu Kang GRC. While scrutinizing the legal bills of WongPartnership, Dr Lim and her husband alleged that WongPartnership was charging what amounted to $77,102 for each day Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho were in court, in one of the bills. In another, it was $46,729 for each day in court. And, for the third bill, it was alleged that the fees of Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho amounted to $100,000 per hour of court hearing. Later, Dr Lim filed notices of dispute for all the bills from WongPartnership, which amounted to about $1 million, before a taxation hearing. A taxation hearing takes place when the legal bills submitted by the winning party of a lawsuit is disputed. A taxing registrar will be appointed to decide on the matter. In Dr Lim's case, the assistant registrar at the taxation hearing actually slashed WongPartnership's total bill charges from $1 million to $340,000. Unhappy with the decision made at the taxation hearing, Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho then applied to the High Court to review the assistant registrar's decision. The High Court Judge, Justice Woo Bih Li, eventually raised the charges allowed from $340,000 to $370,000, which was still far below the original $1 million. With the judgment from High Court, Dr Lim's husband later complained to the Law Society against Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho for overcharging. In response to the complaint, the Law Society formed a review committee to review the matter. One of the members in the review committee was Deputy Senior State Counsel from the Singapore Legal Service/Public Service Commission. What happened next was the committee dismissed the complaint against Alvin Yeo, as lacking in substance. It based its decision on WongPartnership's assertion that Alvin Yeo was not involved in the preparation of the bills, and that there was therefore no misconduct on his part. Alvin Yeo is the Managing Partner of WongPartnership. Dr Lim's husband is currently applying for a judicial review before the High Court, of the decision made by Law Society's review committee. He is asking the court to quash the review committee's decision and appoint a new committee to review the complaint against Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho again. This is the first time someone has applied for a judicial review of a decision made by the review committee of the Law Society. At the same time, he is also applying for the admission of a Queen's Counsel to represent him in this court action, after having been turned down by over 20 Singapore Senior Counsels he has approached. Dr Lim's husband said that the Singapore Senior Counsels didn't want to take up his judicial review case mostly because of their personal or professional relationships with Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho's law firm. MP Alvin Yeo asked TC question in Parliament In March this year, MP Alvin Yeo asked Minister Khaw Boon Wan in Parliament how residents’ interests can be protected when town councils fail to observe good corporate governance and responsible accounting practices. MP Alvin Yeo asked: To ask the Minister for National Development what measures are available to the Ministry to protect the interests of residents in relation to Town Councils who fail to observe good corporate governance and responsible accounting practices. His question came a week after Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, at the request of Minister Khaw, directed the Auditor-General to audit the accounts of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) which is run by WP. The auditor has given a “disclaimer of opinion” on the council’s financial statements for the financial year 2012/2013. MP Alvin Yeo, however, did not ask about People’s Association (PA) whose auditor has given their financial statements an “adverse opinion” for many years.    Read More →