Subsidies make drugs cheaper at SOC

28 Jul 2007, The Straits Times

Question

Name of the Person: Chee Kim Kiau (Mdm)

Medical subsidy based on duration of therapy?

I was discharged from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) recently after a major operation. Another patient in my ward who had a similar operation was also discharged that day. Our doctors had prescribed the same medicine for both of us. However, the subsidy given was different: I had to pay three times more. The pharmacist’s explanation, supported by the pharmacy’s director of applied health specialities, was that although the quantity of Sangobion was the same – 56 capsules – the consumption period varied. The other patient was to take two capsules per day and I one per day. I would take eight weeks to complete the same amount of medicine, but she needed only four. As the subsidy was based on “duration of therapy”, I had to pay more.

If not for this chance comparison, I would not have realised this is how KKH computes the quantum of government subsidy to be given to patients. I believe there are many patients and their families who are not aware of the practice. I wonder if the Ministry of Health finds such a method fair and just, whether other hospitals calculate the subsidy based on the method adopted by KKH, and whether KKH doctors know that how they prescribe medicine affects the amount their patients have to pay. The Sangobion was made even more difficult to swallow when I found out that the other patient who got a higher government subsidy was not even a Singapore citizen.

Reply

Reply from MOH 

Subsidies make drugs cheaper at SOC

In "Medical subsidy based on duration of therapy" (ST, 16 Jul), Mdm Chee Kim Kiau asked why the subsidy given to her for Sangobion was based on the duration of therapy and not on the number of capsules dispensed.

Drugs are normally billed based on the quantity dispensed. However for subsidised drugs, we charge the patients at $1.40 per drug per week. This way, it benefits the patients more, particularly those with chronic conditions requiring large quantities of medication.

In Mdm Chee's case, she was billed $11.20 for 8 weeks’ requirement, much less than what she would otherwise have had to pay commercially.