2 hospitals refused to treat girl with tumour

are we talking about the local scene here?

no, thank God but it is still pretty shocking to hear of this being reported in another part of the world and in this case, a neighbouring country.

just this week, the jarkarta post reported that 2 hospitals refused to treat a 10-year-old girl, Yani with a tumor because her family is poor.

Mustari Soleman, a university student who has taken up the family's cause and in a media statement, said that 2 big hospitals in Jakarta had refused to perform surgery on Yani as the family was unable to pay the costs.

Mustari added that although Yani's parents have a welfare card, they are only entitled to 30% to 50% coverage of the total costs charged by one of the hospitals and yani's parents were told by the hospital they would have to pay a rupiah 20 million (US$2,200) as down payment for the surgery.

which has led Mustari and other students calling on the government to investigate and evaluate hospitals that refuse to treat poor people and cover Yani's surgery costs.

my comments:

after i read this article, one question which immediately comes to mind; is any single human life more precious than the down payment of a mere rupiah 20 million? this is a purely rhetorical question and the answer is a given.

in our tiny red dot nation, our government's policy is never to refuse treatment for everyone rather than going by the famous line from the 1996 hollywood blockbuster, jerry maguire starring tom cruise shouting into the phone to his client, "show me the money!".

this policy is due largely to our government's 3M financing framework consisting of medisave, medishield (and integrated shield) and medifund.

but we are further 'pampered' due to the fact that there are several choices when it comes to options for more comprehensive h&s coverage.

on this, there are not 1 but 5 moh approved integrated shield providers with plans that come with 'as-charged' benefits covering all options from no restrictions to your choice of any hospitals in singapore to lower priced ones with restriction to specified hospitals such as government restructured hospitals.

knowing this is one thing but there is one caveat because unlike medishield, coverage is not automatic, meaning u have to apply for it and your application will be subject to the insurer's underwriting of risk/s.