Singapore Healthcare System Analysis

This assignment delves into the complexities of Singapore's healthcare system. It examines research on cost-effective lifestyle modifications versus metformin for diabetes prevention and analyzes the economic impact of diabetes on working adults in Asia. Additionally, it explores patient complaints within the healthcare system, optimal oxygenation practices for premature infants, Singapore's high life expectancy ranking, and a global comparison of US healthcare with other nations. Finally, the assignment touches upon the historical evolution of public health in Singapore.

Running head: COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Comparison of healthcare performance in Singapore
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1COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Introduction
Healthcare system in Singapore is basically in the responsibility of the ministry of
health in the Government of Singapore. Singapore is generally having a wide and efficient
system of health. Singapore is in the ranking of the world’s health system in the year of 2000.
Singapore is a universal system, in which the government makes sure that the healthcare
systems are accessible in the public sector of health that is done through a system of price
control, savings and subsidies. The health care of New Zealand had been into some changes
through the past decades. Like the other countries New Zealand is also having a system that
is funded for the public. It is used to assess the performance of the health system with the
help of the programs used for measuring the performance of the healthcare organizations. The
performances of these organizations have evolved from time to time. These organizations are
not been aligned to each other and always reflect the direction of the health policies of the
government. This report has been made to provide the details idea about the idea of the
performance of the healthcare system of Singapore and it is being compared to the healthcare
system of New Zealand.
Funding
Funding System
The healthcare system of Singapore uses different financing system which includes
the nationalized schemes of life insurance and the deductions from the savings plan. This
savings plan also known as central provident fund (CPF), is made for the people of Singapore
who work and also the residents who were permanent. This process is being made for the
reduction of the use of the healthcare services. At a top level of the subsidy the expense is
generally small, the costs could be accumulated and the expenses become considerable for
the patients and their family (Yang, Bogosian, Moss-Morris & McCracken, 2016). At the

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lowest level of subsidy, it becomes as if it does not exist and the patients are being treated as
private patients also in the open system. A component in the provident reserve spares a piece
of a man's month to month wage funds for future medicinal costs and affirmed restorative
protection strategies. The medicinal bank account, Medisave, amasses reserves that are
separately followed, and such subsidizes can be pooled inside and over a whole more distant
family. By far most of Singapore nationals have significant funds in this plan. One of three
levels of endowment are picked by the patient at the season of the social insurance scene.
As compared to Singapore the healthcare of New Zealand had gone into some
changes in the past decades which had introduced some health insurance policies in the
market. These policies help to provide healthcare through a mixed form of public and private
health. The accident compensation corporation had been introduced which covers the cost of
treatment for the cases related to accidents which includes the unplanned treatment of the
people (Nizar &Chagani, 2016). The extensive and the high-level system of the public
hospitals are being introduced which generally treats the patients free of cost and the funding
is done by The Health Board of the District. However, the critical and long operations might
need long delays unless the treatment is urgent.
% GDP Spent on Health
Around 70-80% of the Singaporeans get their therapeutic care inside the general
wellbeing framework. General government spending on open medicinal services adds up to
just 1.6% of yearly GDP (Png&Yoong, 2014). This added up to a normal of $1,104
government wellbeing use per individual, halfway on the grounds that administration
consumption on medicinal services in the private framework is to a great degree low. As per
Mark Britnell add up to use on medicinal services is 4.6% of GDP and has remained
practically steady since autonomy (Thomas, Ong, Chia, & Lee, 2016).

3COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Whereas the GDP of New Zealand in 2012 spent on healthcare is 87% or US$3,929
per capita; out of which about 77% was the expenditure of government which is greater than
the expenditure of Singapore. The growth per capita in health had been decreased by 1.3% in
the year 2013. The share of GDP that was allocated for spending in the healthcare in new
Zealand was 9.55 in the year of 2013, which is slightly less than the GDP allocated in the
year of 2012.
System governance arrangements in the country
The ministry of health of Singapore has the whole responsibility for the health care.
The most important belief of the Singaporean government is that the social harmony is
needed for to stay strong (Flynn, Yu, Feindt & Chen, 2016). If the tensions can be avoided in
between different races and in the social groups, then each and every people of the country
shall be benefited. The governance of Singapore is simple whereas the arrangements of the
government in New Zealand are too complex. The governance of the New Zealand consists
of some parallel and some compartmentalized structures, which requires negotiation for
doing the things. These arrangements require some substantial negotiation for the healthcare
navigation. The healthcare system of the Singapore provides coverage to the healthcare to the
people, along with the anchored financing system (Howlett& Ramesh 2016).
Population Health Indicators
Maternal Mortality Rate
The maternal mortality rate (MMR) is the number of deaths of females per 100,000
births every year that are caused from any problems that are related to pregnancy and its
management which excludes the cases of accident. The MMR generally includes the deaths
of a female during her pregnancy, birth of the child or in between the 42 days of the

4COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
pregnancy termination, which does not depend on the duration and the place of pregnancy, in
a particular year. The rate of maternal mortality is very rare in Singapore. According to the
Registry of the Birth and Deaths, ICA Singapore, the ratio is measured as 8.6 deaths in every
100,000 births ("Maternal Mortality in Singapore (MMR)", 2017). It can be due to the facts
the obstetricians of Singapore are highly trained for the identification of the pregnant mothers
so that they can reduce the maternal death during the birth of a child. The maternal mortality
rate of New Zealand is much higher than that of Singapore. It is estimated to be 9.6 deaths
per 100,000 child births. Six deaths out of the 16 peoples are mainly caused by sepsis and 5
with the infection of streptococci. Rest 13 out of 57 maternal deaths were caused from
suicide.
Infant Mortality Rate
The number of infants used to die before reaching the age of one year is known as
infant mortality rate. It is measured as deaths per thousand births in a year. In Singapore the
infant mortality death had been reduced from 2.0 deaths per 1000 live births in 2011 to 1.7
deaths per 1000 live births in 2015 ("Health: Infant Mortality Rate | Ministry of Social and
Family Development", 2017). In New Zealand the infant mortality rate is much higher as
compared to Singapore. In 2015 the number of deaths of the infants that were registered in
New Zealand was 251, which means the infant mortality rate is 4.1 per thousand live births
("Births and Deaths: Year ended December 2015", 2017).
Life Expectancy at Birth
As stated by the World health organization, Singapore is in the fourth position in the
life expectancy rate in the whole world. In 2011 the average life expectancy of Singapore was
found as 82 ("Singapore ranks world No. 4 for life expectancy", 2017); in which the age of
the women is expected to be 85 and the age of the men are expected to be 80. In New

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Zealand the life expectancy in the year of 2012 was calculated as 83.2 years for females and
79.5 years for males. It has been increased from the years 2005-2007, at that time the life
expectancy rate at birth was 82 years for the females and 77 years for the males ("Life
expectancy at birth: The Social Report 2016 – Tepūrongoorangatangata", 2017).
Health System Performance
Performance of the health systems is being the main concern of the policy makers
from the past years. Various countries had recently introduced some of the reforms in the
sector of health which is having the aim of improving the performance. Also, there is an
existence of a widespread literature on the reform of the health sectors and some of the recent
debates are emerged depending on the ways of how to measure the performance so that they
can be assess the effects of the reforms. Some of the measurements of the performance need a
clear framework which can define the goals of a system of the health. The outcomes of these
goals can be judged and the performance can be qualified (Squires & Anderson, 2015).
Low birth weight
The low birth weight babies are the newborn babies whose weight is less 2.5 kg,
within the time of the first few hours of birth. In Singapore it has been seen that the value of
low birth weight of the infants was 8.0 in 2000 but has increased to 10.7 in 2015. The low
birth-weight is generally associated with the malnutrition of the mother. It gives rise to the
risk of mortality of the infants and also reduces the growth of babies in infancy. In 2013 in
New Zealand, there are nearly 22 million of new born babies whose weight is less than 2500
grams and those who were monitored by the use of health system surveillance and also by the
house hold surveys (Chen et al., 2014).
There are also some of the emerging evidences which show that the low-birth-weight
of the babies becomes more prone towards the non-communicable diseases for example the

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cardiovascular diseases and also diabetes. Lower in the birth-weight is a result of the birth of
a baby who is born before the time or is too small during the period of gestational. Babies
who are born prematurely and are also too small in their gestation period is having the worst
prognosis. The countries having low and middle income there is a report of low birth-weight
generally caused from the poor nutrition of the pregnant mother. Three of the factors that
have the major impact are the poor nutrition of the mother before conception, short height of
the mother and lack of nutrition of the mother during pregnancy (Saugstad&Aune, 2014).
Obesity
Obesity in Singapore is increasing day by day and it must be prevented. Actions are
being taken for the prevention and control of obesity. From the National Health Survey
(NHS), a survey was done in 2010 and following of the data were found. One of the nine
residents of Singapore who are in the age group of 18-69 years is obese and their BMI is
equal to or more than 3kg/m2. The obesity rate is calculated as 12.1% in males and 9.5% in
females. By categorizing the people according to the ethnicity 24% of the Malaysian people
along with 16.9 % Indians and 7.9% of the Chinese people are obese (OBESITY IN
SINGAPORE, PREVENTION AND CONTROL, 2017).
In New Zealand a survey was done for the annual obesity and it was found that almost
one of the three adults were obese; 35% of the adults were overweight; 47% of the Maori
adults were obese; 67% of the pacific adults were obese; and the obesity rate of the adults had
increased from 27% in 2006 to 32 % in 2016. Also, the annual obesity of the children was
recorded and it was found that one in nine children whose age was from 2-14 years were
obese. Further studies found that 21% of the children were overweight. It was also found that
15 % of the Maori children were obese and 30% of the pacific children were obese. The
obesity rate had been increased from 8% in 2006 to 11% in 2015 ("Obesity statistics", 2017).

7COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Diabetes
Singapore is a small country of Asia but it is growing very fast. It is also increasing
the inactive population who are the bearer of the chronic problems of health that the other
Asian countries have started to face and also will face in the future ahead. Foreseeing the
change in the trouble of some of the chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes in Singapore is
an important thing which is needed. It has been found that the prevalence in obesity will
increase from 4.3% in 1990 to 15.9% in 2050. On the other hand, the occurrence of the type 2
diabetes among the aged is doubled from 7.3% in the year of 1990 to 15% in the year 2050
(Png, Yoong, Phan & Wee, 2016).
It has been reported that the type 2 diabetes in New Zealand is increasing fast and in
some of the places it has reached to an extreme condition. The Maori and the inhabitant of the
pacific island are more prone to suffer from diabetes than other people of New Zealand
("Diabetes mellitus in New Zealand - Southern Cross NZ", 2017).
Management of Quality and Safety in the Health System
For the initiation of the healthcare it is necessary for the improvement of the quality
and the safety of the patients. The quality of the health care is defined as a degree of the
health services for the individuals. The quality of care is new concept of Singapore where it is
being assumed that it is the goal of a healthcare system. The national healthcare group
delivers the care which are properly coordinated, is accessible and also affordable. The vision
of the NHGs is to maintain the quality and safety of the healthcare system. It mainly avoids
the injuries that are caused during the treatment (Reader, Gillespie & Roberts, 2014). The
value-added services must be provided that is based on the scientific knowledge to the people
those who could get benefited. The patient centered care which is being provided is respectful
and is responsive for the preferences of the patient and also about their needs and their

8COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
values. The waiting time for the patient must be reduced and there must not be any delay for
the people who are in the need to receive care. The care workers must be efficient while
providing the care. They must to avoid wasting of the equipment, the supplies and the
resources those are being supplied for the healthcare. The care that are being provided must
be consistent in quality, regardless of the gender of the patient, their ethnicity, location and
the social and economic status of the patient.
The quality and the safety of the health care of New Zealand was handled by a
commission which aims to work with the clinicians and the health managers for supporting
and encouraging them for improving the areas of the health care system (Liaw et al., 2014).
The Health Quality & Safety Commission is a Crown Entity that is mainly focused for
determining to make a differences in between the customers or the clients and their
experiences in the healthcare.
Conclusion
Hence from the whole report it can be conclude that the healthcare performance of
Singapore is much higher that the healthcare system of New Zealand. The healthcare system
of Singapore uses different financing system which includes the nationalized schemes of life
insurance and the deductions from the savings plan. General government spending on open
medicinal services adds up to just 1.6% of yearly GDP. The share of GDP that was allocated
for spending in the healthcare in New Zealand was 9.55 in the year of 2013. The MMR of
Singapore is 8.6 that is generally low as compared to New Zealand whose MMR is 9.6. Also,
the Infant mortality rate has reduced from 2.0 deaths per 1000 live births in 2011 to 1.7
deaths per live births in 2015 as compare to New Zealand where the IMR is 4.1 per thousand
live births. In Singapore it has been seen that the value of low birth weight of the infants was

9COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
8.0 in 2000 but has increased to 10.7 in 2015; which is less as compared to New Zealand,
where 22 million of new born babies are less than 2.5 kg .

10COMPARISON OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
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