Changi General Hospital

I'm a frequent visitor to the hospitals in Singapore because I give recommendations to my foreign friends as to which one to stay in for their medical needs.

Changi General Hospital happens to be the nearest public hospital in the East.... bo bian. If I were filthy rich, I would choose Mt. E.

My mother-in-law was a patient in the Geriatric ward (C class)and it is a pitiful sight to see the elderly when they are weak and sick. I cannot blame the nurses for not being attentive most of the time as these patients and their family members can be very demanding. I salute these nurses for their hard work.

You would expect A class to be A service. Surprisingly, no. A class fees, yes. I admitted one foreign student to its A class ward and it has embarrassed me greatly in front of the parents.

Waiting to be sent to the ward was long. Waiting for a doctor to see the patient was long.

My ward vomited on his pajamas and it wasn't changed for him. He wore it overnight and the next morning, no nurse came to wash, clean him up or changed his soiled pajamas.

My student was admitted for the removal of appendicitis, after his operation and during his stay, I never got to see a doctor. I only knew of 'his perforated appendix' when I received his Inpatient Discharge Summary.

Did I ask to see the doctor? Yes, through the nurses and I was told to come early in the morning, at 7 am or earlier to catch him. *rolls my eyes*

My student was re-admitted for wound infection. When I queried the hospital, then the attending doctors told me it was normal when an appendix was perforated.

We went to A&E before 1pm. We were in the ward at 5 plus and then it was a long wait for a doctor to see my ward. After much hurrying, a young doctor came to inspect the wound and had it cleaned. Another young doctor came an hour later. It was almost 10 pm and my hubby and I hadn't had our dinner as we were waiting for the doctor to give his diagnose. The doctor told us to go for dinner as there's an emergency and the doctors are busy.

790 beds and yet not a doctor can attend to my young ward who's having a bad infection. And we are in A class!

After dinner, a young senior doctor came. If it's any consolation, CGH seems like a Taiwanese TV production house. The doctors can form F4s. It has Young, good-looking doctors. hahaha.....

Anyway, we kena suan by this senior doctor when he sarcastically announced he hadn't had his dinner.

S$4200 was deducted from my credit card during the first admission and the balance not returned until I asked for it in writing. Another S$4000 was deducted from my credit card on the 2nd admission and the bill was not more than S$700. My money was tied up in both instances for many days.

At private hospitals, they cleared all bills on the day of discharge. My money won't be kept at their disposal.

And the final bill wasn't sent to me even after a week of discharge, so I couldn't get reimbursement from my student's parents.

When patients in A class wards get such bad service, I cannot imagine what it is like at the other classes. Don't throw good money away, no need to go for A class wards, B class will be good enough. Service doesn't get any better even if you pay A class fees.