Support for the Disabled
Mdm Chairman, our healthcare system for the general population is, I believe, one of the best in the world. There are three areas I would like to ask the Ministry to consider in support of the disabled in Singapore.
One, help those who have previously been excluded from MediShield. I applaud a new opt-out feature of the MediShield plan to immediately cover all newborns, whether they are born perfectly or not. I thank the Minister for that. I speak now for the thousands of children, youths, adults born with congenital conditions, but have missed this window and the Minister's good news. These citizens are still excluded and deprived of the 1M of the 3Ms scaffold that typical Singaporeans enjoy.
Madam, I urge the Government to ensure the national insurance vendors, like NTUC Income and so forth, to make sure that they are educated on the major disabilities. Advise insurers to assess the risk factors before conveniently refusing the medical coverage or upgrade request of citizens who are disabled or who have special needs. I was recently told of a teenager with Asperger's syndrome was refused medical insurance coverage upgrade when his mother honestly reported that he has some form of mild disability. He is at no greater risk than someone who is typical.
Two, I hope that Minister also consider underwriting the basic hospitalisation and surgical benefits provided to any citizen, extend it up to the ceiling under the same scheme for those who were rejected by commercial insurers. This "self-insurance" benefit is a practice that is adopted by progressive firms for their employees who, for some reason, are rejected by their insurance vendors.
Next, I would like to urge the Ministry to allocate resources for applied research and educate families with special needs children. Many parents with children born with congenital or developmental problems are bombarded with advice on how to help their children. In their desperation, they try all kinds of treatment options - some without any evidence base - and some very expensive. Some people without proper training and credentials have set up clinics and promised cures for these desperate parents. It would really be great if the Ministry should allocate resources to the CDUs and CGCs in hospitals to ensure some basic applied research is done and aggressively educate parents on the validity of these various treatments for those born with common developmental problems, like global developmental delay, speech delays, autism, hyperactivity and so forth. This will save many children who are put through treatments which are not just a waste of money but also precious time that could have been used to improve their prognosis better. I firmly believe that this will not cause a dent in the Ministry's budget and it will help many of these children.
Lastly, I would like to ask the Ministry to consider developing Singapore into a regional centre of excellence for disability treatment, especially in disabilities that are reportedly on the rise, eg, developmental conditions of children, mental illnesses and geriatrics in the area of medical tourism, instead of playing the same space of lasik treatment, cosmetic injuries, botox, and so forth, like in some other countries in ASEAN. Nowhere is demand so strong and supply so weak in disability medicine, and this is a great opportunity for us to go into. As our neighbouring countries become more affluent, the attention they give to disabilities will be greater and Singapore should be well poised for the lead here.