Friday, July 3, 2009 13:01
Free meh?
In Quotes • 593 views • 16 Comments
The ministry should state clearly what one must expect to be the minimum cost of an H1NI test at the Communicable Disease Centre, because it cannot be free if there is an $85 charge.
Denis Distant, Straits Times forum page
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16 Comments
TrueBlood Singaporean
If like that then who want to report?
If we got to pay so much just to check if we got H1N1 then I might as well buy some flu medication off the shelf and go to work.
Also, my company’s policy on quarantine is that staff who get quarantined will be considered to be on no pay leave. I wonder who in their right mind will want to report if they are going to lose their pay for 2 weeks.
lim
What do you expect from the pap?
They rather lose the $.. A pandemic and still can’t give free tests?
They think people will abuse this “privilege”, like people have nothing better to do than to go CDC for free tests?
Let’s wait until a more deadly strain arrives…
tew ah seow
Pap lost billions of $$ in bad investment, don’t expect free consultation ok !!!! Everything needs money in Sing Land. Whether subsidised or not. From containment to mitigation, all bull shits, increase in H1N1 figs. so what !!!!! you people suffer, we MIW still enjoying life……..
tiredsingaporean
$85/- for a test? wow! another flow of $million profit for the health ministry, more $$$ made, more big fat bonuses to come.
mice is nice
seriously, this is akin to discouraging people from coming forth to test for H1N1.
all the mixed signals, yet no one is taking any responsibilty for the goof-up. where is the transparency?
this reminds me of how airlines advertise their airfare some time back, put a low low fare in bold, & ** to omit other charges that could amount substantially.
tew ah seow
$85 per test, imagine 2000 ppl got infected, woh govt earn $170k, so the more H1N1 cases, the better for the revenue.
pw
$85 for a simple test is gross profiteering. The procedure and the material used for the test costs only a few cents! So the ministry profit margin is a few thousand percent.
I would like to know
Citizens of singapore,
I would like to know , if you have no money. Would you be able to get treatment ?
How much is a life worth?
i wonder….
JACK
If they want to contain the spread of H1N1, they need to encourage those
suspected cases to come forward for testing and 1 incentive is to make the
tests as affordable, even if free is possible. ManyI would think twice and seek alternate medication first if they knew Govt hospitals is charging that much of a test and even more for hospitalisation for suspected cases.
Like Aids, there is no subsidy here unlike in most other countries. The cost
of the medication alone for Aids sufferers can cause some to commit suicide ,
and many get them from overseas.
Govt cannot always operate on a businessman-like mode.
agongkia
I am concern that some of those who suspect that they have H1N1may not go for the check up because they either feel expensive or cannot afford it .This will result in more and more cases.
In order to control the spread of H1N1,we should encourage those people to come forward and those tested positive for H1N1 should not be charge for the H1N1 test .But bear in mind,it is possible to give free test but also possible for them to recover the S$85 by making the treatment fees more expensive .
Those tested negative?Should give them further discount for playing their part.
doctorwho
i think the authority is just waiting to be screwed by the general public for such a insensitive act. When the outbreak occurs, someone would unfortunately die from it. Thats would be the tipping point.
Anyway, i believe the majority of us (99.999%) would be left on our own to fight the virus. Do you think you can escape from it … don’t you have to take crowded MRT, bus (also super cold) and go to work, school?
Only the minority elite are well protected and isolated, would they care or understand the general public feelings when such a policy is set?
Challenge the authority to take crowded MRT and bus to work. Let them eat their own dog food. A life is a life, no such thing as one is more important than the other.
My fren says
#11 agongkia wrote:
“But bear in mind,it is possible to give free test but also possible for them to recover the S$85 by making the treatment fees more expensive .”
“Those tested negative?Should give them further discount for playing their part.”
But my fren says no one owes us a living leh. how?
anonymous
“But my fren says no one owes us a living leh. how?”
i don’t get the thinking of these people.
why don’t u volunteer urself for no hdb,education subsiDIE etc?
sometimes i think its because these people are feeling repressed and don’t want to see other people helped because they never received kindness in their lives. pap loves these kind of people.
shenshi.c
now i know it cost to be socially responsible
mice is nice
depending on vocation those infected with the bug may still need to pay with annual leave or hospitalization leave, lost of income per day (cabbies), “fine” for no show at work per day (cleaners), being on quarantine for days may also affect annual appriasals, for others with other health issues….
sad ah….

Try get H1N1 and die in Singapore!
It is very expensive to die in Singapore!
Wake up your idea! Everything is a cost even you walk thru the path of death!