Jackass of the Week award - The Shocking Ignorance from Minister Khaw

Jackass of the Week award - The Shocking Ignorance from Minister Khaw

Health Minister Khaw’s latest comments about how research and progress in Singapore’s medical industry has prolonged the life of a Singaporean to 80 years is incredulous o me.

Would he like to point out and highlight exactly what products or medical procedures developed through research in Singapore have contributed to this age? The groundwork for a better life span was laid decades ago, long before Singapore had a so call medical industry.

The average life expectancy of the country of Andorra is 83.5 years. That is 3.5 years longer than what Minister Khaw claims Singapore’s is. Are we to assume that that small country has poured more R & D into their medical industry than we have? Is the Andorran Health Minister paid more than he is to accomplish this?

Someone from Mr. Khaw’s ministry should vet all his comments before they are made public. They should explain to the Minister that average life expectancy in Singapore is already just under 82 years. He is shortchanging the average Singaporean’s lifespan by 2 years.

The average life expectancy for a Singaporean female has already far surpassed the Minister’s figure at 84.7 years. In addition, the longevity of the average Singaporean is due to our low infant mortality rate, improvement in our diets, and lower poverty levels.

Medical research in Singapore has hardly contributed to any of these. The elimination of many diseases such as polio, and the development of treatment for other common diseases like Diabetes and Cancer, originated from medical reseach in other countries and not Singapore.

It is this medical progress developed elsewhere that has prolonged live everywhere, not just here. All developed countries have shown increases in their life expectancy.

These comments show the ignorance of a Health Minister who is not a medical professional by training. It is typical of the PAP to place unqualified persons in charge of vital ministries who have their training and career in other areas.

In his case, engineering. Perhaps the Minister cares to design a better hospital bed? It is shocking to me that someone who supposedly ran NUH, KK, and SGH can be so ignorant about the average life span os calculated.

This is not the first public misstep that Khaw has made. His handling of the SARs, and Dengue outbreaks are also farcical.

However, the most comical comments of all must be these new ones claiming credit for longevity through Singapore’s medical research, when everybody knows that these have contributed almost nothing to it. He will be claiming credit for the invention of bed pan next.

This is another PAP trait, that is, to claim credit for something that can’t even be remotely link to them, but at the same time to disavow themselves of any blame or cupability when things go wrong. Uniquely Singapore. Mr. Khaw is this week’s Jackass of the Week.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=27332.1