My mum is born and bred Singaporean, my dad Malaysian who's a retired Malaysian civil servant having full pension benefits that include free medical at public hospitals for himself and my mum. My mum used to live in Singapore when my siblings and I were studying here, so she used to get her medical done here. Now in her old age, she suffers from the usual chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, glaucoma etc. She found the bills here increasingly exhorbitant until my dad persuaded her to get her medical done in Malaysia. Of course my siblings and I, having been educated here in sg and thinking like Singaporeans asked mum, "you sure or not, can trust malaysian hospital or not, somemore public hospital". My dad on the other hand who has all along been getting his check ups etc done in such hospitals persuaded my mum to give it a try as he had confidence in Malaysian healthcare. And so began my mum's courtship with malaysian public health care at zero cost as my mum began getting more of her treatment and medications in Malaysia and recently had her glaucoma ops done right here at the sultanah aminah GH in JB. From the treatments and medication s she has been prescribed, it appears that she has been getting top-notch medicines. For eg, for her joints, she was prescribed the best medicine on the market, according to a doctor friend. Her glaucoma op was done professionally by the head of the opthalmology dept altho the hospital facilities were no frills. I visited my mum in the hospital and was surprised that the wards were very clean. No air con but well ventilated. So, while I cant speak for the case of the hapless robbery victim with the chopped hand, dont be too quick to dismiss the quality of Malaysian public healthcare.
