HEALTH Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday spoke out against the Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP's) $10 billion health-care plan and urged voters to reflect on the "consequences of some of these strange ideas".
Mr Khaw said that while the opposition party's idea of increasing health spending by 2.5 times may seem attractive, he cautioned that the spending will "not (be) a one-off increase".
"Once you raise the spending level, that becomes the minimum level. It only grows from there," he said.
The SDP had unveiled its health-care plan at a rally on Tuesday and proposed that the Government's health-care expenditure be increased from the current $4.08 billion, which is 4 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, to at least $10 billion.
This would be "aping" the model adopted by Western countries and it is not the approach Singapore should take in dealing with an ageing population, Mr Khaw said.
Instead, the solution should be "invest more and more on care outside the hospitals" by keeping the elderly active and healthy through wellness programmes, he added.
Mr Khaw, however, acknowledged that Singapore's healthcare expenditure would increase over the years. "But we are working very hard...to manage that escalation so that it creeps up incrementally," he said.
Mr Khaw, who is helming the five-member People's Action Party team contesting Sembawang GRC, was speaking to reporters ahead of his walkabout in the constituency. The team is up against the SDP, led by Dr James Gomez.
Mr Khaw also clarified the rumours relating to the cost incurred by him for the heart-bypass operation he underwent last year.
It had been said that he abused his position as health minister and paid only $8 for his operation. Calling the allegations "lies", Mr Khaw said that his bill amounted to $25,000 but he paid only $8 out of his own pocket for about a week's stay in a Class A ward. The bulk of the bill was covered by Medisave and MediShield.
