Only the best health services at Raffles

PATIENTS from Brunei who plan to seek health treatments from the Raffles Hospital in Singapore can look forward to being provided with medical arrangements based on their requests.

This is in line with Raffles Hospital's bid to provide the best healthcare services for its patients.

Hospital's Marketing Director, Dr Jason CH Yap, said that anyone who lives in Brunei who wanted to get a medical treatment from the hospital just need to call the Raffles International Patients Care line at (65) 6311-1666.

"If they (patients) are well enough to travel without a company to Singapore, it is convenient to make a call prior to their departure. When the phone rings here, a Patient Relations Officer will pick it up and book an appointment as per patient's request," Dr Yap informed The Brunei Times.

However, he said that if a patient was unable to travel alone to Singapore and required medical evacuation, the hospital can provide the patient with a list of companies that offer such services.

"And we will let the patients choose because we don't pay them (the medical evacuation companies) and the companies don't pay us. We want the patient to choose from the list provided," he said, referring to it as transparency purposes.

He explained that when the evacuation medical company that brought the patient to Singapore arrived at the Changi Airport, the medical staffs of Raffles Hospital will be waiting and ready to fetch the patient right at the door of the aircraft.

"We have the clearance to walk to the aircraft's door. No other hospitals are allowed to do so. And if the patient needed an ambulance service, we will arrange it also," he said.

The Brunei Times recently was invited by the Singapore Tourism Board to cover the city-state's tourism programme, including visiting Raffles Hospital.

Raffles Hospital welcomes international patients from all over the world.

A unit called the Raffles International Patients Care has been dedicated to assist its international patients with personalised services to help them and their family members feel comfortable while away from home.

The centre will connect international patients with the hospital's specialists and services.

Its patient relations officers will provide assistance and provide necessary arrangements to ensure a comfortable and pleasant visit to Raffles Hospital as well as Singapore.

The services that are provided by the centre cover medical referrals and appointments with appropriate specialists; hospital admissions and discharge including bill estimation and insurance claims; travel planning and visitor information ranging from air ticketing and travelling pass application to accommodation reservations; medical evacuation and repatriation and arranging airport meeting and transfer service to hospital from the airport or hotel via limousine, ambulance or taxi.

The hospital also provides translators of different languages for international patients' convenience and for them to communicate with the physicians.

Besides, the hospital have already employed medical staffs who speak foreign languages such as Indonesian, Russian and Vietnamese.

In addition, the hospital will be hiring external translators from when there are needs for assistance for any other international patients.

Inside the hospital, an International Patients Lounge is also available.

There, international patients can have a one-on-one discussion with the patient relations officers, use the Internet, read books or magazines or just simply relax while having coffee or tea.

Dr Yap continued that Raffles Hospital, which is located in the heart of Singapore city on 585 North Bridge Road, offers patients with good practice model as the doctors under the hospital's employment are experienced as well as dedicated.

"They don't work anywhere else so that they can be fully focused to their patients here," he said.

All of the hospital's specialists are on call, able to reach the hospital in a very short response time, and around the clock.

"For international patients who are on holiday, for example, and face emergency situation, they will be able to receive the best care within a short period of time," said Raffles Hospital's Corporate Communications Executive, Clara Cai.

While most hospital's facilities such as registration desk, pharmacy, billing counter, and doctor's offices spread out around its premise, it is different at Raffles Hospital.

At the hospital patients do not have to walk around the hospital for such purposes as it provides a one-stop centre for each healthcare services.

The hospital also provides specialists medical services for both outpatients and inpatients, which include health screening, multi-disciplinary specialists clinic, wards, day surgery, delivery suites, intensive care unit (ICU), neonatal ICU, operating theatres, angiography, radiology, clinical laboratory, and physiotherapy, accident and emergency including hotel calls, medical escort or evacuation services.

Singapore is a multi-faceted regional medical hub, not only for healthcare services but also as a meeting place for medical professionals for conferences and training. In 2000, the World Health Organisation has ranked Singapore's healthcare system as the sixth best in the world and the best in Asia.

In addition, 13 hospitals and medical centres in Singapore have obtained Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, as recorded in ifwww.singaporemedicine.com.

Singapore expects between nine million and 9.5 million tourists arrival in 2009, compared to 10.1 million last year, in view of the current global economic downturn and the outbreak of Influenza A (H1N1).

The Brunei Times