A&E Subsidies

21 November 2011

Question No. 122

Name of person: Mr Baey Yam Keng

Question

To ask the Minister for Health if he will clarify whether Government subsidies are provided for all Accident and Emergency (A&E) patients at public hospitals regardless of their nationality; (b) if so, what are the reasons behind this practice; and (c) what is the number of foreign patients treated at A&E departments at all public hospitals from 2006 to 2010 respectively and what is the amount of Government subsidies given.

Answer

1.    Non-residents generally do not receive any subsidies for inpatient and outpatient care in our public hospitals and polyclinics. In contrast, Singaporeans receive up to 80% subsidy for inpatient hospital care, up to 50% subsidy for specialist outpatient services, and up to 75% subsidy for polyclinic services.

2.    A&E departments serve patients who have critical, life-threatening medical conditions or have suffered accidents that require emergency attention. It is a safety net to save life and we have to keep charges simple and affordable. We need to ensure that patients will get vital emergency treatment. A&E departments are therefore subsidised at 50%, and a flat attendance fee charged, regardless of nationality.

3.    In the last five years, the A&E departments in our public hospitals served about 780,000 patients a year. Singaporeans make up the vast majority. Foreigners treated at our A&E departments averaged 140,000 a year over this period, or about 18% of the total patient load. Total government subvention for foreigners at our public hospital A&E departments averaged $14 mil per year. This represents less than 1% of MOH’s total subvention to the public hospitals for subsidised patient services, which amounted to $2.2 bil.