Better healthcare at higher costs

WEALTH PROTECTION

SINGAPORE:How to achieve better quality, improved access and at the same time, lower costs in health care?

This is the poser that centres on the East Asia Healthcare Policy Dialogue which opened here today, on the eve of the Asean Health Ministers Meeting tomorrow.

Opening the dialogue here, Singapore Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the healthcare industry had not been able to provide better and cheaper healthcare at the same time to the public, till now.

He said although medical science had reduced mortality and extended lifespan, nevertheless, cost had gone up tremendously, causing even some rich countries not being able to provide good healthcare universally.

Khaw said healthcare players probably faced contradiction in trying to attain both better yet cheaper healthcare for the public.

The minister said, what was happening in the industry was that “better but more expensive” healthcare solutions were put in the market, instead.

"And often, the industry ends up touting just “more expensive” solutions even though there is skimpy evidence of them being better,” he added.

But Khaw was confident that the healthcare industry one day could consistently provide good quality, cheaper healthcare and made it more widely available.

Looking at ICT as an example, the minister said there was no contradiction in the sector where information technology, broadband and mobile telephony had indeed, been getting more powerful, ubiquitous and yet cheaper, at the same time. - Bernama