{"id":41161,"date":"2017-12-04T11:19:13","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T03:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/?p=41161"},"modified":"2017-12-04T11:56:15","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T03:56:15","slug":"doc-for-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/2017\/12\/doc-for-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor For a Day 2017 by Mount Elizabeth Hospitals Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Before we share our experience on this year’s \u2018Doctor For A Day<\/strong><\/a>\u2019 program, we want to give a shout-out to both Mt. Elizabeth Orchard Road and Mt. Elizabeth Novena for the great job they are doing.<\/p>\n

A&E \u2013 Government or Private?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one likes emergencies, especially when the emergencies involve our own children. But as luck would have it, both our kids have been treated at A&E more than once. In fact, our 3 year old son has been sent to A&E three times.In case you think we are one of those folks who abused the A&E system, our visits all warranted speedy medical attention as it involved suspected choking, food poisoning and a bad gash from a nasty fall. We recalled as first time parents, we would bring our elder daughter to the government hospitals\u2019 A&E where we waited alongside a sea of anxious parents, where hours would crawl by before it was finally our turn to be treated. Few years down the road,  experience has made us wiser. When emergencies arise, we would rush our kids direct to the private hospital\u2019s A&E – usually Gleneagles or Mt. E Novena due to its proximity to our home. Because speed really is the essence.<\/p>\n

Case in point: Injured at 7am, treated at 9pm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, a friend\u2019s P5 son suffered bad laceration to his face due to a traffic accident. Though he was rushed to the A&E of the government hospital at 7am, the surgeons could only operate on him at 9pm (14 hours later!) as his condition was deemed \u2018non life-threatening\u2019 (and hence assigned as a lower priority case). As a result, the poor child (and his parents) was extremely traumatised by the accident.<\/p>\n

Accounts of long waiting time at government hospitals are not uncommon, understandably so as our govt. hospitals are very stretched by its huge patient load. With every minute that ticks by, our children\u2019s sufferings are prolonged. Contrast that with our own family’s experiences at Mt. E hospitals\u2019 A&E where our children (specifically during our son’s recent fall), he was triaged almost immediately, received accurate diagnosis and had his wounds stitched up by a plastic surgeon within 6 hours (the op could have been scheduled within the hour but our son had to fast for a few hours before being sedated for the op). <\/p>\n

Contrary to public perception, the A&E bill of a govt vs. a private hospital is not too drastically different. Yet at the latter, the much shorter wait times, the soothing environment and readily available resources (such as operating theatres and on-call specialists etc.) more than made up for it. In all of our children emergencies, the Mt. E teams have provided speedy medical attention. We are thankful that our personal accident & hospitalisation insurances have always adequately covered most, if not all of their A&E costs. That peace of mind knowing that when the need arises, we have the means to send our children to the best medical care available in the shortest time, is something we do not compromise.<\/p>\n

Speed Saves Lives \u2013 \u2018Doctor For a Day\u2019 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

The highly popular ‘Doctor For A Day<\/strong><\/a>\u2019 returns this year with a new, improved format that will revolutionise how children view the medical profession. For the first time ever, parents would be allowed to participate with their kids instead of being mere bystanders!<\/p>\n