money or quality patient care

Reward for patient care or chalking up revenue This is the latest debate involving Wei Ling and Dr Ranjiv Sivanandan. Ranjiv's point is that in restructured hospitals, doctors and departments are rewarded based on the number of private patients treated. This underlines the whole Singapore ethos of existence, from state, organisations and people. Money is the only reason and the only reason that can justify work and achievements. Wei Ling came out strongly against this impression. And she quoted her department , NNI, as a living example of patient care first, quality care comes first. Bringing in money is not a criteria for performance appraisal. She knew what she was saying. That was her department and that was where she called the shot and set the ethos. The sick are very fortunate to have some of these special individuals who are passionate in what they do, without having to bother with how much they earned or how their rice bowl will be affected. Unfortunately, NNI is probably an isolated case. Will there be another hospital heads who will stand up to say they too are doing the same? Probably not, and Ranjiv's case still stands. We need mavericks, people who are high achievers, confident and secure, to stand up to the weight of bureaucracy to do what is right and not what the bureaucracy wants them to do, or they will have to face the stick.

nkf story - the good side of durai

NKF Story - The good side of Durai As in all stories, there are always the good side and the bad side. And humans are no difference. There are the good side and bad side in all of us. David Tan, a close friend of Durai, who was given $20k as a token of appreciation, was all praises for Durai. He had told the court that Durai was an honourable man. And he also quoted anecdotes of Durai telling him 'on two occasions' to tell the truth to the investigators. Durai must be worried for David, for whatever reasons. Durai, as reported in the Today paper, also called David Tan's nephew to remind David to 'tell the truth' in court. And in all the years that David had known Durai, he confirmed that Durai had not asked him to do any dishonourable thing. Here is the good side of Durai on display in court. At least we are now assured of some truth spoken in court.

good to have frills

Good to have if it is free Unless there is a breakdown or system failure, the next MRT train will arrive in 10 or 15 minutes at most. This could also apply to the buses. At worst, the buses will be late by 30 minutes. Anything more than that, the system must be very badly managed. This is the inbuilt advantage of being small. No need to think like big cities and big countries. It is good to have all the screens to tell the time of the next arrival, provided they don't add towards the operating cost and thus to the cost of the fare. Unavoidable if these perks are added. Imagine how many thousands of bus stops with one or more screens showing the arrival of the next bus? What kind of cost on the software and the maintenance to add these frills to the lives of the poor communters who just want the cost to go lower? Then there are the more affluent commuters who lusted for such thrills as they can afford them. It is important to look at the lowest common denominator, LCD, before implementating all these good to have gadgets. Be mindful that there is a large majority who still struggling to save a few cents on their daily trips. Not everyone can afford to throw away $10 or $100 as tips or small change.

biting the hands that feed

The call to ban granite export is on again. Which confirms that there was no ban and the arrest of our vessels was a violation of international law, Indonesian law and a wanton hostile act. The military commanders were acting in their own accord, in violation of Jakarta, a kind of mutiny or warlordism. Still want to help them, still want to develop Batam and Bintan? On a personal basis, on humanitarian ground, the feeling of wanting to help the victims of a disasters is unavoidable. There is the heart and emotion to want to help another human being. But if their government do not appreciate such acts of humanities and repeatedly acts in a hostile and unfriendly manner towards us, let them shoulder the burden of helping their own kind. Let them bear the guilt of not able to provide their people in times of need. We shall fold our arms and look elsewhere. Our resources are limited and there are many Singaporeans more worthy of our assistance. The money or aid can go to the needy instead of giving them one dollar more. We cannot help the world. We need to help ourselves and our own kind first. Why waste our time and resources when the hands that feed are going to be bitten?

a nation or just a mnc?

A nation or a MNC? I wrote about Singapore becoming an IBM, ready to be sold to the highest bidder earlier. How relevant is such an observation? PN Balji wrote an article on the Revolving Door Nation today. In his article he discussed about the real intention of the new economic migrants flying first class to our shores as opposed to the penniless migrants of our forefathers who came on cargo ships on a one way ticket. Balji started by saying 'Let's not kid ourselves. Most expatriates who come to work and live here don't do so because they want to make this place their home.' He had spoken to many expatriates and came to the same conclusion. He knew what he was saying which is not what people believe. It is ok for people to want to believe what they want to believe, that foreign talents love this little red dot and are all here to stay. But to believe in blind faith and trying to convince others to believe likewise is a very unjust thing to do. Feel free to believe in your fantasy, but reality as felt and seen by the people on the ground is reality. People with value or are wanted will pick and choose where they want to go. And people who did that are just doing it purely for their selfish reasons and more, they don't owe us a living. What is more humiliating and would in the long run do a long of harm to this young nation, is to self deprecate ourselves by glorifying the foreigners and dismissing ourselves as less than equals. When I look at Parliament, I don't think the foreign talents are that superior to any Singaporeans to be put on the high pedestals. If those are considered the best and better than Singaporeans, then Singaporeans do not deserve to exist. We need to return some pride to the Singaporeans. As Balji said, 'Without pride, there is nothing.' We will only turn into a country without a soul, without shame, just a corporation. Or as Balji said, a revolving door nation. Inevitable? That for our survival we must be soulless and become a flotsam of people, that to survive we no longer have any pride or self worth?