Hi TRS, I am writing in to share my experience at the department of the medical social services at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
I am 22 this year and I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes 3 years ago. I have been doing my followups at Singapore General Hospital for the past 3 years. Last year my father had a stroke and is now in the nursing home, unable to walk or talk properly, much less work. I have 2 siblings who are still schooling. My mother is the sole breadwinner of the family now, earning a small salary of just over 1k a month as a retail assistant in NTUC Fairprice.
Each visit to the hospital every 3-4 months costs easily almost $300 AFTER SUBSIDY. My mother has been using her Medisave to pay a portion of my medical bills, but as she only started working again about 2 years ago, she does not have much in her Medisave account. We were referred to the Medical Social Worker of SGH to get help in paying the bills.
While waiting for the interview with the medical social worker, I noticed an elderly Chinese uncle going for the interview too. He was interviewed by a Medical Social Worker who did not speak Chinese. There was another Medical Social Worker who understood Chinese but rudely exclaimed that she did not want to translate for the Uncle. The Uncle was obviously enraged and just walked out as nobody wanted to help him.
Why did the Medical Social Worker refuse to help him? They are supposed to have the heart to help people in need. They have a very bad attitude and appear to only care about getting their salary and not genuinely help people! Is this how the Medical Social Workers do their job? Of course, i have seen some really good medical social workers from other hospitals a few years ago, but sadly this is a totally different case in SGH. I am absolutely disgusted by their service!
Now back to my case, despite my mother being to sole breadwinner of the family, earning slightly more than 1k a month, we were rejected by the Medial Social Worker. Even with bill statements of my father's stay at the nursing home which costs about $400 a month after subsidy, ambulance fees to bring him to hospital for checkups, my case was still rejected.
I have lost absolute faith in SGH Medical Social Services department after these series of incidents. Healthcare is getting more expensive, and the department who is supposed to help needy people ends up not helping people who need help...
I hope the management in SGH can look into this matter and hire social workers who are genuine in helping people, as they are giving the hospital a bad name.
Regards,
Z.
TRS Contributor