Overseas Marketing Expenditure

22 Feb 2010

Question No:  310   

Question

Name of the Person: Mr Seah Kian Peng

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the amount incurred annually by restructured hospitals on overseas marketing from 2007 to 2009; (b) what is the rationale for this expenditure and does it prevent the crowding out of private healthcare providers; and (c) whether this augments a hospital's core mission of providing quality health care for Singaporeans.

Reply

Reply From MOH

1 Public hospitals do not engage in overseas marketing. Their mission and their priority are towards local residents, and especially those in the lower income group.                                  

2 Public hospitals do treat foreign patients, as there is no reason to reject them. Given our high standard of care and competitive prices, we attract a significant number of foreign patients. But they form less than 3% of our total patient load.

3 Singapore does strive to preserve its role as a regional medical hub, an initiative code-named SingaporeMedicine and spearheaded by the Singapore Tourism Board. As a major provider of tertiary healthcare services, MOH lends its support to the promotion of SingaporeMedicine. This is because increasingly foreign patients come here for sophisticated treatment in such tertiary care disciplines. This is an area which Singapore, despite its higher cost, has an edge over our regional competitors.  While we have many competent specialists in the private sector, many are in the public sector.