Singapore public hospitals in the past did not have a policy of not allowing subsidies when an injured worker, such as a Malaysian permanent resident (PR), is hospitalised in a subsidised ward.

Somewhere along the line, the policy changed to deny subsidies for industrial accidents, resulting in workers having to bear huge medical expenses in excess of the S$25,000 (RM59,728) cap that employers in Singapore are responsible for.

So, for example, if your medical bill is S$150,000 (RM35,838), you will have to foot the balance S$125.000 (RM298,658) yourself.

Is it fair for a worker who, through no fault of his own, is burdened with large medical bills arising from an industrial accident?

Shouldn’t workers have rights to medical expenses arising from a work-related accident? Did Singapore’s unions or parliamentarians object to such an erosion of workers’ rights?

Since the subsidy in class C hospital wards is 80 percent, an injured worker may have to pay up to five times more, out of his own pocket, when his hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation expenses exceed the cap of $25,000 (RM59,728).

In contrast, if you are a Malaysian on a work permit or S-pass, instead of a PR, Singapore employers are responsible for your entire medical bill if you are hospitalised. Singapore employers are required to insure foreign workers, like Malaysians, for S$15,000 (RM35,838) of medical expenses, but have unlimited liability for their foreign workers’ medical bills.

Of course, what usually happens is that the Singaporean employer may cancel the injured Malaysian worker’s work permit so that he will be deported, to avoid having to pay for the worker’s medical expenses.

Hospital bill ‘upgraded’

It is a little known fact that if you are a Malaysian PR who stays in a Singapore public hospital’s intensive-care unit (ICU) for, say, two months under C-class, which is the cheapest ward class, but opts to upgrade to a higher ward class for a few days after discharge from ICU, you will be billed the higher class charges for the entire duration of your stay in the hospital.

Is it fair for patients to be billed the higher charges for their entire hospital stay, when they only stayed in a higher class ward at the end of their hospitalisation?

The Ministry of Health in Singapore should step in to review this unfair practice by hospitals.

Since Malaysians in Singapore who are not PRs  are not entitled to any medical subsidies in public hospitals, they will be billed the full unsubsidised amount when they are hospitalised in the non-subsidised B1 and A class wards.