SINGAPORE: The cost of medical care is always an important issue, and with more private hospitals and nursing homes springing up across the causeway, some Singaporeans feel that they are in for more choices.
Half-an-hour from Singapore's Woodlands Checkpoint is a newly-opened 218-bed private hospital in Bandar Seri Alam.
With two hotels nearby, and its marketing efforts aimed at Singapore residents, Regency Specialist Hospital hopes treating Singaporeans will not be a foreign idea.
CEO of Regency Specialist Hospital, Lee So Chow, said: "We've seen about 30 patients from Singapore. Our sister hospital, Makhota Malacca, sees about 250 Singaporean patients a year. What's really popular (with Singaporeans at our hospital) is health screening. Our open heart surgery costs 33,000 ringgit on average, whereas (in Singapore) it will cost the same amount in Singapore dollars.
A four-bedded room costs about S$42 a day, while its most premium room is about S$148.
And at the six VIP suites within the hospital, there is a special waiting area, where for a fee, fold-out beds can be set up for family or friends of the patient.
Singapore's Health Ministry is looking into how MediSave can be utilised in approved hospitals overseas.
But patients may have other concerns.
A consultant general and vascular surgeon at Regency Specialist Hospital, Sujit Singh Gill, said: "I guess the travelling time will be one concern. Another thing is they may be worried that if something happens late at night, they will have to go all the way to the hospital here.
ut I guess to some extent, we can mitigate that because as I've said, four of us (doctors) do practise in Singapore and we're actually not too far away."
A half-an-hour drive from Singapore's Tuas Second Link checkpoint will bring you to a site in Johor Bahru, where a Singapore company, China Healthcare, is setting up its new nursing home called ECON Medicare Centre.
The site is about 3,000 square metres, which makes it the largest land area out of all its nursing homes. The five-storey facility will be built with a capacity of close to 200 beds for its residents.
The centre will be modelled after its seven other nursing homes in Singapore, with similar accommodation and facilities.
The home is slated to be ready in two years and will have similar rates to its Singapore nursing homes - but in ringgit.
Son of a resident at ECON Medicare Centre, Alvin Khoo, said: "If we pay in ringgit, I believe it will be much cheaper. One disadvantage is traffic jams. Whenever it comes to weekends or public holidays, there are bound to be some traffic jams at the causeway, so that is one of the factors I'm concern about."
CEO of China Healthcare, Chua Song Khim, said: "We recognise that not all residents will want to go to JB, but there may be some Singaporeans who may prefer to have that option. Maybe for a couple of months?for a different environment, a different setting.?
And that is what Singaporeans can look forward to -- the best of both worlds.
- CNA/yt