I SPENT my undergraduate days in Australia. At times, I fell ill and had to visit the doctor. At the clinic, the doctor would come out of the consultation room, introduce himself briefly with his first name and shake my hand. He then gently led me to the room, patiently listened to my problems, gave his medical opinion, and explained my options (costs and benefits of different treatments and medications). Sometimes, the advice was just to rest at home and let the body heal naturally.

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Do you remember how much you paid for that consultation in Australia just for the doctor to tell you to stay home and rest? If you pay the S'pore GP that much as well, I'm sure he will be more then happy to spent more time with you.

If you think you really don't need any medicine, then don't go to the doctor at all. What's the point in visiting the doctor and telling him you don't need anything from him?

He wants to take m/c lah

`At the clinic, the doctor would come out of the consultation room, introduce himself briefly with his first name and shake my hand. He then gently led me to the room, patiently listened to my problems, gave his medical opinion, and explained my options..'
Go SGH or TTSH A&E or specialist clinics - if the doctor were to do that - listen patiently 45 minutes to patients like you then we would be waiting 5 hours to see the doctor and the clinics won't be able to close till pass midnite.
The writer must find out how many paitents the ang moh doctor in australia see a day and the maximum load of patients `shoved' down their throats before complaining.
Looks like the internet is providing too much misinformation and the writer needs a seminar to `understand more about my condition or ask about alternative treatments and medications' rather than a doctors' consultation.
simply put there are too many attention-seeking patients who think they know better from their internet browsing and demand that every single thing must be explianed in full and all alternative treatments and medications spelled out to him.
aussie doctors are better?

The letter writer sounds like a typical whiner.

I tot its how many days of mc, not the time with the doctor that matters?

Can we trust the diagnosis of the doctors in Singapore? Do they have sufficient moral courage?

#2,4,5 - why are you guys whining instead?

Kwong Yee:
are you prepared to pay up to $60 for consult fees if you expect drs to be able to answer your questions? I do know of some General Practice clinics in Singapore which charge up to S$65 for consults only (excludes medications). They could spend 20 mins with you.

not many doctors in Australia bulk bill these days and it is not common for patients to pay A$60 up front and they will get A$30 back from Medicare. The medical system in Australia is very well funded from the Federal Government and what they spend on health care is more than 3.5% of their national GDP and that comes from the hefty taxes that their working citizens (not from dole bludgers) have to pay.
Are you prepared to pay S$60 for consults and say 30% tax? yes or no?

The poor Singaporean dr/nurses are overworked. It is hard to expect them to 'talk cork sing song' or simply find time to 'hold your hand' when they are under the pressure of time;

it is sad to see people whinge whinge whinge and they can't offer any real solutions. These people are also unwilling to ask their MP to raise the national Healthcare's GDP to say 6% as it means that they will have to pay more taxes - something which I don't find very appetising too.
To sum up, there is no such thing as 'ai pee yew ai chee', which means that the service has to be cheap and excellent"
- my 5 cents worth of thoughts. ;)