At present, there are 15 public hospitals and medical centers in Singapore, including 6 general hospitals, 1 women and children hospitals, medical centers, 1 psychiatric hospitals and 6 specialized cancer, heart, eye, skin, neuroscience and dental health centers, as well as 2 1 private hospitals and specialized clinics. In addition, there are more than 2,000 general practitioners (GPs) in Singapore, and there are community hospitals in every residential area, which can provide timely medical care services for convalescent patients and the elderly who do not need to go to general hospitals.
1. What should I do if I get sick? Singapore's medical system needs to understand.
① Family doctor (clinic)
The primary health care unit in Singapore is a family doctor. Family doctors are very mature in many countries. For example, in the United States, patients usually seek their own family doctor first. When necessary, family doctors arrange patients to see a doctor in a big hospital or contact a specialist to treat patients. The definition of family doctor in Singapore is slightly different from that in the United States. There are both family or individual private doctors and small clinics that open their own doors. Family doctors generally rent a small market room in the community and practice alone.
Family doctor is equivalent to the most popular and basic layer in the medical security system. Any patient who sees a family doctor will be treated by the doctor. Symptoms such as fever and cough appear, and the patient may already know that he has a cold. The purpose of seeing a family doctor is to diagnose and get medicine. The doctor confirmed that the illness was a cold, so he prescribed medicine for the patient. This treatment ended soon, and it was a short-term visit with little charge. However, some diseases can't be diagnosed by family doctors, so family doctors will write a referral form and refer her to another specialist hospital or general hospital, but it takes a long time and costs a lot to see an outpatient in a specialist hospital or general hospital.
Almost every residential area in Singapore has a primary health care center, covering every corner of the country. These state-owned medical centers provide high-quality medical and dental care. As a one-stop health center, they provide outpatient treatment, follow-up of discharged patients, vaccination, health examination and education, and pharmacies.
2 specialist.
Compared with specialists, the qualifications of family doctors are relatively low, and with the level of primary care doctors, private clinics can be opened. A specialist is one level higher than a family doctor. Specialists have opened their own hospitals, equipped with more comprehensive medical equipment, which is convenient for patients to receive comprehensive examination and treatment. When patients are referred by family doctors to general hospitals for treatment, they can also get subsidies.
Singapore has established a good two-way referral system between private clinics and public hospitals. Residents go to the family doctor's small clinic first. When the clinic thinks that referral is needed, they will issue a certificate, and the patient will go to the specialist hospital with the certificate, otherwise the expenses in the hospital will not be subsidized by the government. This measure lightens the burden of big hospitals.
2. Emergency hospitalization to a general hospital
General hospitals provide multidisciplinary emergency inpatient and specialist outpatient services as well as 24-hour emergency services. These public hospitals operate in the form of private limited companies, which can ensure competitiveness and high-level service and quality. They are far superior to "public hospitals" in other countries. These public hospitals have the ability to deal with complex diseases and patients transferred from other neighboring countries. The overall environment of these large general hospitals can be said to be much superior to similar hospitals in China.
There are not only various functional areas in the hospital, but also places convenient for patients such as catering and other service areas, which are very spacious, comfortable and convenient; Cleanliness is impeccable. Western-style pictures are arranged on the walls on both sides of the aisle. There are related medical knowledge and introductions in the waiting area, as well as various Chinese and English newspapers and magazines for people to read. When I went to the waiting area for senior doctors in the National Medical Hall, I felt that I was in a star-rated hotel, with soft carpets, comfortable sofas, all kinds of pleasing furnishings and flowers and trees in the hanging garden outside the window, which made people feel relaxed immediately.
People who see a doctor are very leisurely, and there is no common abuse in domestic hospitals. Why are there fewer people? Because of the strict triage system in Singapore, patients have to go to community hospitals first, and then they can come to general hospitals after being introduced there. Of course, you can also go directly to the general hospital, but the registration fee is sky-high.
3. Private hospitals and public hospitals
The division of labor in Singapore's medical system is relatively clear. Outpatient services can be provided by various medical institutions, and hospitalization services are mainly provided by public hospitals. The proportion of patients in public medical care and private medical care is 20% and 80% respectively, and the proportion of inpatients is 80% and 20% respectively. In public medical institutions, it is generally necessary to make an appointment and wait for a long time, so you can't choose a doctor freely. Private medical institutions do not need to make an appointment because of the small number of patients, and they can also choose their own doctors, so the waiting time is short. Public hospitals and private hospitals in Singapore play different roles, complement each other and are indispensable. In public hospitals, doctors have to face many patients, and the time for serving each patient is relatively short. In private hospitals, there are fewer patients, so doctors can communicate with patients more and provide patients with more comprehensive services.
Like other countries, private hospitals in Singapore are market-oriented. Doctors who provide consultation in private hospitals are mostly full-time doctors in public hospitals, and occasionally go to private hospitals for part-time jobs. Most private hospitals provide advanced wards or VIP wards. Because most private hospitals are located in bustling urban areas, doctors need to complete their duties in public hospitals before they can go to private hospitals for consultation, so the cost of private hospitals will be higher than that of public hospitals. However, this does not mean that the services provided by public hospitals will be worse than those provided by private hospitals. Outsiders go to public hospitals for medical treatment and hospitalization. Because you can only apply for a first-class ward, the environment is still very good. A ward is completely isolated from other wards.
Public hospitals also bear an important responsibility, guarding the last level from students to doctors. In Singapore, medical university students must go to public hospitals for a period of study, training and service after graduation. Only through internship can you really "graduate" and obtain the qualification of a doctor, and then you can choose to enter a private hospital or open your own clinic. Private hospitals serve high-end patients. Although there are fewer patients, they take more care of each patient, so the fees are higher. Some public hospitals in Singapore also provide self-funded medical services for a small number of patients, with high-end services, because some wealthy patients prefer to go to public hospitals. In terms of the most basic facilities and services, public hospitals are cheaper than private hospitals. If it is a high-end service project, public and private are the same.