Heart-attack care: Transparency the best policy
ST letter by Ms Lee Wei Ling
IN MY column, ‘Righting a wrong comes from the heart’, last Sunday, I described the status of treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the public health-care sector. I stated the facts which were accurate up to Jan 1 this year. I felt that both the public and general practitioners (GPs) should have the relevant information about the capabilities of all our public-sector hospitals.
I wrote about it because my medical school classmate, a GP, was flabbergasted when I told her that Tan Tock Seng Hospital had no round-the-clock capability to open up obstructed heart arteries by ‘ballooning’ on an emergency basis.
Another medical school classmate, a specialist in the private sector, was forced by the SCDF ambulance to have her mother admitted to Tan Tock Seng last month and there was no doctor capable of doing ballooning on an emergency basis until she found one to do so.
Alexandra Hospital had no such capability and my classmate advised all her patients to go to the nearest hospital if they suspect AMI. She subsequently obtained feedback from other doctors that the ballooning service at Changi General Hospital was not great. I chose not to mention Changi General Hospital in my column, nor did I say that ‘only the National Heart Centre and National University Hospital are able to handle heart-attack patients after office hours’.
But in yesterday’s report, (’Most hospitals offer 24/7 heart-attack care’), Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Ministry of Health and the Singapore Civil Defence Force seem perturbed by what I wrote.
Instead of looking forward to improving care of AMI patients, all three organisations expressed unhappiness about this public disclosure.
My view is that the public will be understanding and forgiving if they know this is the best service the Government can provide, given the various constraints. Giving the public the knowledge means AMI patients can make an informed and wise choice when deciding where to go for treatment.
Prof Lee Wei Ling
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=26027.1
