SINGAPORE: For their contributions to Singapore’s museums and heritage sector last year, 74 individuals and organisations were recognised at the National Heritage Board’s annual Patron of Heritage Awards event held on May 23.

A  total of S$8.13 million — for both cash and in-kind donations — were given in 2016 by supporters, who received awards from Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu at a special ceremony at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

More than half of the donors — 42 out of 74 — last year were first-timers. They included the Global Indian International School who donated a cash gift to support the Indian Heritage Centre’s (IHC) inaugural special show Once Upon A Time In Little India.

Museums and heritage centres also received artefact donations.

The National University of Singapore Museum received a sizeable selection, including 19 works from Singaporean watercolour artist Harry Chin Chun Wah; two artworks by Malaysian artists Grace Selvanayagam and Mohammad Din Mohammad given by former Malaysian ambassador to Singapore N Parameswaran; and an artwork donated by Filipino artist Edgar Talusan Fernandez.

Both IHC and the Peranakan Museum also received artefact donations. Among those received by the latter was a 152-piece collection of jewellery and porcelain once owned by Singapore pioneer and merchant Tan Kim Seng.

Organisations also chipped in to support programmes and exhibitions last year such as Givaudan, an international flavour and fragrance company; they lent their technical expertise for exhibitions at the National Museum of Singapore and Singapore Heritage Festival.

In her speech, Minister Fu also cited how heritage partners have helped beyond donations, citing NHB’s HeritageCares philanthropy initiative that reaches out to the less privileged through heritage programmes.

“(It) has taken off with the strong support from corporate donations and corporate and individual volunteers. To date, it has mobilised close to 1,000 volunteers and benefitted more than 3,400 persons in heritage-related programmes. This is a big step towards making our heritage institutions more inclusive, bringing about a more caring and inclusive society,” she said.

“As part of our engagement for the Heritage Plan for Singapore, we have heard from many that their ideal museum should offer an immersive experience, carry multi-faceted narratives, and be a safe social space where individuals from all walks of life can gather and learn. The gifts from our patrons help us to do just that,” said NHB chief executive officer Chang Hwee Nee, in a media release.

“The stories they tell, or help to tell, add layers and depth to the various narratives, and enable us to further the museum and heritage experience for our visitors.”

Plans for the Heritage Plan for Singapore, a comprehensive national blueprint for Singapore’s heritage sector that is set to roll out next year, was announced in March. 

SINGAPORE: Ranking second in the Bloomberg Healthcare Efficiency Index 2016, Singapore is increasingly acknowledged by analysts and commentators around the world for achieving excellent healthcare outcomes at modest costs.

The issue of healthcare reform has become ever more contentious, as governments look to rein in spending and limit their fiscal responsibilities. In the face of anxieties over rising healthcare costs, Singapore’s healthcare model has caught their eye, especially its medical savings account scheme, Medisave.

Observers see it as a clever mechanism for reducing a government’s fiscal obligations while building households’ capacity to pay for their own healthcare needs.

The interest in Medisave coincides with the ongoing healthcare reform debate in the US. A health savings account is a prominent component in Republican proposals to replace Obamacare. The current Republican plan offers attractive tax benefits to those who take it up and then use the accumulated funds to purchase health insurance of their choice.

They argue that this will expand individual choice while reducing the government’s involvement.

However, we have found in our research that such focus by observers on Medisave is misplaced and misses the deeper reasons for the success of Singapore’s healthcare system.

Singapore’s achievement is not the result of any single programme, but of the targeted and orchestrated manner in which the Government deploys a broad range of policy tools.

The scope and depth of the Singapore Government’s involvement in healthcare is unlikely to appeal to most American policymakers, Democrat or Republican.

HEAVY GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS IN HEALTHCARE

Back in the mid-1980s, the Singapore government introduced reforms centred on privatisation, deregulation and marketisation that were in vogue at the time. But the ensuing increase in healthcare expenditures and political disquiet led the government to reverse course, and develop and refine a comprehensive set of tools to steer the sector.

These policy tools can be broadly classified into four categories: Organisational, fiscal, regulatory and informational tools.

An important part of Singapore’s healthcare system that explains its success is the way it is organised. In Singapore’s case, the Government owns the vast majority of hospitals in the country. This provides the Government leverage to direct the hospitals where needed, while granting operational autonomy to managers regarding day-to-day activities.

In turn, the emphasis on autonomy and competition while remaining in public ownership makes hospitals more customer-centred and financially prudent, and ensures that they remain under the Government’s direct control.

Out-of-pocket payments form the bulk of total healthcare expenditures in Singapore as free healthcare is non-existent. Every service user is expected to pay all or part of the costs of treatment.  This prevents an over-medicalisation of healthcare and discourages overconsumption. 

Medisave forms only a very small part of total expenditures. However, the Government has elaborate measures in place, including subsidies for lower-cost wards, to keep costs down and ensure that basic services remain affordable.

A nation-wide Medishield Life hospital insurance scheme helps Singaporeans cope with large hospital bills, providing assurance. The application of a co-payment arrangement with subsidies for those who really cannot afford their bills help to keep premiums affordable while providing a “safety net of last resort”.

The Government maintains tight regulatory supervision and control over all healthcare providers in Singapore. These regulations work in conjunction with the controls it exercises through ownership of and subsidies to public hospitals.

To promote healthy competition among providers – competition based on substantive matters rather than frills – the Government requires hospitals to publish the average estimated bill for major medical procedures on the Ministry of Health’s website. On admission, hospitals are required to provide patients with an estimate of their bill, and among others, the average bill at other hospitals.

This allows patients to make informed choices, and providers to remain conscious of cost and quality issues. Cases of errant charges are also swiftly investigated, deterring misdemeanour but giving space for privately-operated hospitals to thrive alongside public hospitals, to give Singaporeans choice.

PORTFOLIO OF TARGETED TOOLS 

Singapore’s healthcare system is not without its challenges. Though Singapore has managed to maintain modest overall spending, it has a rapidly ageing population and most healthcare expenditures continue to be financed out-of-pocket.

What is unique about Singapore’s approach to healthcare, however, is that it has developed a portfolio of targeted tools to address specific problems that afflict the sector.

The coordinated use of these tools ensures that healthcare providers compete on costs and quality, and that total costs remain relatively low. Singapore will have to calibrate these tools to respond to challenges in the coming years.

Unlike the focus on financial and payment issues that characterises healthcare reforms in most countries, Singapore’s approach to healthcare shows a promising pathway to managing the sector effectively.

However, governments have to make their own assessment as to whether they have the political will or the administrative capacity to adopt and execute a similar strategy.

Professor M Ramesh is UNESCO Chair for Social Policy Design in Asia at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. This commentary was first published in Global-is-Asian, a flagship publication of the school. Read it here.

SINGAPORE: Trainee teacher Yusrina Ya’akob has become the first Singaporean to summit Mount Everest since 2009 after she reached the top of the world’s highest mountain on Monday (May 22), expedition company Everquest Expeditions confirmed.

The 30-year-old successfully climbed a dizzying height of 8,848 metres above sea level at 9.40am on Monday, after more than 50 days of trekking.

For Ms Yusrina, the feat is especially sweet after her failed attempt to summit Everest in 2015, which was meant to commemorate Singapore’s 50th year of independence. She was one of the leading members of the Aluminaid Team Singapura Everest 2015 which had to abandon the climb halfway following a powerful earthquake that struck Nepal.

For this year’s attempt, Ms Yusrina teamed up with Singaporean climbers Jeremy Tong and Dr Arjunan Saravana Pillai. The trio’s expedition is supported by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National Institute of Education (NIE). 

Mr Tong and Dr Saravana, who were both attempting to summit Everest for the first time, were unable to reach the top as they were both unwell.

Mr Tong, who graduated from NTU’s Sports Science and Management programme in 2016, told Channel NewsAsia that he was forced to turn back about 200 metres from the summit due to hypothermia. He subsequently returned to base camp and his condition has since stabilised.

The 26-year-old fell ill in late April when the team was doing their acclimatisation rotations and he was forced to be transported to Kathmandu for a check-up. He was then diagnosed with High-altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), a medical condition which causes the brain to swell with fluid due to high altitude.

He re-joined his teammates at Everest base camp to attempt the summit push, only to encounter health problems at the balcony, Everquest Expeditions said.

Dr Saravana, a 47-year-old teaching fellow from NIE who has scaled several peaks including Kang Yatze II in India (6,400 metres), did not attempt the summit push as he suffered frostbite, Channel NewsAsia understands.

Ms Yusrina commenced her summit push from Everest’s base camp last Thursday and reached the top one day ahead of schedule after taking advantage of good weather conditions.

The team earlier had to battle blistering weather conditions especially during the acclimitisation phase of the climb prior to the summit push, about 6,660 metres above sea level.

“Weather has been erratic as we experienced extreme heat and extreme cold while climbing to the Lhotse face,” the team said on their Facebook page on May 13.

The last Singaporean NTU-NIE team to summit Everest was an all-female expedition team eight years ago. Five women – Joanne Soo, Esther Tan, Lee Li Hui, Jane Lee and Lee Peh Gee – reached the Everest summit on May 20, 2009.

Before her latest expedition, Ms Yusrina told Channel NewsAsia that she embarked on this second attempt because she wanted to “face the mountain again”.

“I would not have been able to get over it (the disappointment) if I did not try again … because the situation that forced us to abort our expedition was not because of a lack of ability but a natural disaster,” she added.

With her triumph, Ms Yusrina has become the first female Malay-Muslim Singaporean to conquer Everest.