Thursday, August 20, 2009

Nursing Home in JB

This is a very controversial topic- should Singaporeans consider nursing homes in Jb instead of Singapore when they are old? It seems that 99% of the singaporeans against this idea, based on what I read (comment of the webpage). We don't talk about whether it is good or bad to place old folks at the nursing home in this context, which is a different perpective ( Although i disagree). However, the cost of living is getting higher..I guess these people who disagreed today may 'forced' to agree after 20 years down the road. Do you know that the new HDB room size is smaller now? 9 sft? I heard that even the executive HDB size is 'downgrading' too. (Afterall, all are built on a tiny island) Pathetic but no choice.

Just a sharing: I used to rent a HDB (21th floor) common big bedroom (no aircon) in Queenstown for $380 back in year 2006. The scenary view from my bedroom was excellent, facing the Bukit Timah forest and a big grass field. Today, you have to pay atleast $700-800 for the same bedroom. Recently, I did check the market price for this queenstown HDB with 4 bedrooms ..and yes, it is estimated worth $700,000. This is so called the most expensive HDB area in Singapore...I guess that only atleast middle upper class ( or upper middle class?) families afford to stay there. No wonder the cars parked at the Q HDB downstairs are all...

My student told me that her dad got salary cut from 4k to 3.5k. Her mother is a housewife. So, the 3.5k salary is cater for 4 people, plus the HDB loan etc...then how about the grandparents if he is the only child? Medical fees for old folks? Government is planning to enforce the law for expecting people to taking care of their parents. Life is getting tough for everyone.

My good friend commented that " actually do you realise that ...you are getting starting to sound more and more like a s'porean?" As a PR here, I don't know what to say. Sigh.

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/02/nursing-homes-in-johor-bahru-revisited/

The following are three reports from the Straits Times (2009) and from Today (2006) reporting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s remarks about cheaper nursing homes which Singaporeans can go to, in neighbouring countries, and the exchange in Parliament on 10 Feb, 2009, between Mr Khaw and Workers’ Party MPs, Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim.
In 2009:
Straits Times, Feb 10:
SINGAPOREANS could consider living in nursing homes in neighbouring Johor Baru, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan suggested yesterday.
It would be cheaper, yet be near enough to Singapore for family members to visit and for residents to return for medical care if necessary, he said.
He told Parliament yesterday that he recently visited a site in Johor Baru where a Singaporean investor was planning to build a 200-bed nursing home.
He asked the investor about the costs involved, and was stunned at how low they were.
He said: ‘It is mind-boggling. The cost of land and construction cost is so low that my cost of putting up just a polyclinic (in Singapore) is probably more than his cost of putting up a 200-bed nursing home (in Johor Baru).
‘The monthly cost of keeping a resident in a private nursing home in Singapore, you can stretch it easily to pay at least 2-1/2 months of nursing home care in Johor Baru.’
If any medical problems cropped up, the elderly could be taken back to Singapore by ambulance, he said.
For most Singaporeans, visiting a relative in a Johor Baru nursing home would not pose significant difficulties, he said.
The investor, who is a nursing home chief executive, told him that many people visited their relatives weekly, even in nursing homes in Singapore.
Mr Khaw added: ‘Of course many visit daily, but quite a significant number visit only during the weekends, so what is the difference in putting them in Johor Baru?’

In 2006
Today, April 22
Dumping parents worst sin, says Khaw
Minister clarifies comments made on creating retirement homes in nearby countries
HIS recent comments on creating retirement villages in neighbouring countries have caused a mini-controversy, but Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he was misquoted.
“My comment on retirement was completely incidental. Now it has blown up into a big story and there is so much misunderstanding and accusation (that) Khaw Boon Wan is proposing that we dump our parentsin Batam,” said Mr Khaw after an event on Friday.
He was referring to an interview done with MediaCorp’s Channel 8 this week, in which he was quoted as saying: “My personal view is, our land is expensive. But we have nearby neighbours in Johor, Batam andBintan. The elderly want to reach their doctors within half to one hour. So retirement villages in neighbouring countries is possible, barring the cross-border hassle. It is best to find cheap land onshort leases.”
This sparked a mini-debate, with readers cautioning against the “exile” or “banishment” of old folks away from their homeland and the implications of such a move.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Khaw said his proposal has been misunderstood to mean that Singaporeans “dump” their parents in nearby countries.
“The question (from the reporter) was that there were developers who said that land here is rather expensive,” he clarified. “And that’s why I notice that Minister Mah Bow Tan has now shortened the lease, so hopefully land price (in Singapore) will become cheaper. But then they (the developers) said all right, Batam is even cheaper. So I said well, if Batam is even cheaper, then it’s up to you.”
Hence, the decision to locate retirement villages outside of Singapore is up to the private developers and the market — not the Government, he said.
But no matter where the villages are, Singaporeans should not neglect the old, said Mr Khaw.
“You can have a retirement village in Toa Payoh but if your motive is really to dump your parents, that to me is wrong. Whether it’s in Batam or in Toa Payoh or in Ang Mo Kio, it’s all wrong.
Mr Khaw, a Buddhist who comes from a “absolutely Confucianist” background, said to him, not being filial is the worst sin possible.
“Many other sins you can plead to your God and say, sorry, I repent … But lack of filial piety, dumping your parents is inexcusable. Straight down to the 18th level of hell!”
————

2009
Response from the Workers’ Party MPs – Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim (Straits Times, Feb 10)
A SUGGESTION by Health Minister that Singaporeans might want to consider staying at a nursing home across the Causeway in Johor where it is much cheaper drew flak from two oppostion MPs in Parliament on Tuesday.
Workers’ Party chairman and Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim said the suggestion was ‘quite a bad indication of affordability of our own health care services here, and also a reflection of our national values’.
Fellow WP member Low Thia Kiang (Hougang) asked: ‘Is the Minister suggesting that Singaporeans who cannot afford medical treatment or step-down care here should now consider such facilities in Johor?’
If so, is the minister ‘outsourcing the Government’s responsibility to provide affordable health care service to Malaysia’, he asked.
This riled Mr Khaw Boon Wan.
‘I’m not saying that if you are poor I will put you in an ambulance, send you across the Causeway to a Johor nursing home. That is not what I said and please don’t twist my words,’ he retorted.
In fact, the Johor option is not for the poor, who are heavily subsidised in Singapore.
‘Everybody can afford health care in Singapore whether acute care or long-term care,’ said Mr Khaw.
The suggestion was aimed at middle-income families who need to pay for the care themselves. It gives them choice.
‘I just wanted to point out to Singaporeans that there are options like this,’ Mr Khaw said.
The cost of nursing home care will always be more expensive in Singapore, as doctors and nurses are paid more, and construction cost is also higher.
Since many people visit the elderly in homes only on weekends, it makes little difference whether the person is housed here or in nearby Johor.
It’s part of globalisation and this is already happening with Singaporeans going to Bangkok for Lasik to treat short sightedness and Americans and Russians coming here for treatment.
It is also not something that should, or can, be prevented, said the minister.
Singaporeans are already crossing the causeway for cheaper petrol and medicine.
‘By allowing the flexibility of consumers walking across the Causeway… they benefit. I don’t think we should constrain them from doing so.’