Wed 11 Jul 2007
Not enough blood for a dying mother…
Posted by Kevin under Thinking Aloud, News
First world healthcare services!!!??? World class Medical hub? Is Singapore a Medical Hub that does not have enough blood to save her own SINGAPORE Citizen?
I just learnt about this via Jseng’s posting on Tomorrow.sg. A woman died in Singapore on Sunday night after excessive bleeding.
From the news clip: “After the delivery of her boy-girl twins, the woman lost a lot of blood and needed more blood transfusion. The doctor told the family that there was not enough blood in the hospital. If they need more blood, they must seek the approval from HIGHER authorities. The husband gathered about 200 friends and relatives to the National Blood Center the next morning at around 8:50 am to donate blood. The glass door was locked and the staff behind the glass door told the desperate husband that it’s not opening time yet and ‘Cannot Talk‘. The woman died later that evening.”
Why was a Singapore Citizen denied blood when it was needed? Was there no blood or was it “access to blood not granted”?
If the blood bank was really low in blood reserves, the matter should have escalated quickly and a few truck loads of NS soldiers would have volunteered from various army camps.
If its policies & protocols issues, then in my opinion the Minister of Health should resign immediately.
Such mismanagement and oversight should not happen in Singapore since we have the highest paid Minister of Health in the whole world.
I am always against privatisation and profiteering of basic healthcare services!
No Singaporean should die in Singapore, a regional Medical Hub for lack of blood during deliveries or operations (unless, AB- blood type was needed). Even One life is way too many.
I wonder if there was enough blood for Myanmar’s military dictator when he sought medical treatment in Singapore recently? Did he receive any Singaporean’s organs?
Read my lips, I am AGAINST privatisation and profiteering of basic healthcare services.
Here is a follow-up post regarding the Bloody Issue.
18 Responses to “ Not enough blood for a dying mother… ”
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July 11th, 2007 at 5:02 pm[…] Source: http://the-upperroom.com/?p=144 […]
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July 12th, 2007 at 2:07 pm[…] I was very upset the entire afternoon after learning about late Madam Swee Lay Kuan, the mother who died due to excessive bleeding in Raffles Hospital. As a sharesholder of Raffles Medical Group, I am deeply disappointed. […]
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July 12th, 2007 at 3:11 pm[…] I came across this in this blog, and I was just amazed at how acute his observation was. […]
July 11th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
nothing i can say…i also dun agree on how the system works.
Save a life or wait for the go-ahead from the higher authority?!
July 11th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Was her organs harvested after her death? It used to be expensive to fall sick in Sngapore, now it’s expensive and risky even just to give birth. Welcome to SM Lee’s Golden Period of Singapore.
July 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Just want to highlight to all that based on HSA’s website. The Blood center is CLOSED on Monday & public holidays.
http://www.hsa.gov.sg/html/consumer/ctm_donation_locations.html
Should hospitals inform people that any operations or deliveries scheduled on Sunday, Monday, Public holidays and eve of public holidays are at their own risk? Since their family & frriends can’t even donate blood if they really need more blood than their non-VIP blood quota.
July 11th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
sad thing is…should a live be more impt and shouldnt they look at situations and circumstances? I find it totally unacceptable!
July 11th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Kevin,
I am really saddened and troubled by such new.
I am really starting to lose Faith in our so call world class system… : (
astee
July 11th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
i’m not very sure myself, but the page Kevin linked to seems to be talking about blood donation… could it be that these opening hours refer to the blood collection centre, and that it still operates even on sundays and public holidays? (much more likely in my mind, i think)
July 12th, 2007 at 12:33 am
You are not the only one expecting the Minister of Health, Khaw Boon Wan to resign.
Someone wrote “Now, someone has died. You should step foward and explain. Then you resign….”
Taken from http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=sammyboymod&msg=146180.1
More discussion in
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=sammyboymod&msg=146152.1
July 12th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Let’s not get emotional and be fair to all involved.
Raffles Hospital has clarified that her death wasn’t because there is lack of blood, but other complications.
No doctor in this world would allow his/her patient to die because of a blood quota.
the saddest thing here that we should reflect on is our attitude of “not wanting to take responsibility” or a “cover backside” mentality.
Because everything has guidelines, nobody wants to makes decisions, in case they get into trouble. many executives rather allow their superiors to make decisions. We see this is SOOOOOO many govt institutions. Recall the “bomb in shoe” fiasco at the airport, and the “5 strokes versus 8 strokes” in the courts.
One police sergeant waited for his superior to let a hapless lady and her child go over some silly “bomb” comment, and for the courts, everyone blamed a hapless court administrator (who probably only earns $1000 a month) for making the mistake.
And now, because some nurses and administrators didn’t want to get into trouble with their bosses over guidelines, people end up getting the perception that the hospital had a blood quota, and that led to the death.
this is the other sad reflection of this sad episode.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Even though that it has been clarified that the death is not due to the lack of blood but of other complications, you do realize that the point that the hospital was unable to provide an adequate amount of blood for her says a lot.
However, while there is such an occurance, is it really fair for us to say that the Singapore’s Health system is a failure?
Consider this, the amount of blood in Singapore is VERY low, as see from the statistics provided by Kevin himself in the bloody issue page (http://the-upperroom.com/?p=145).
If so, knowing that there is already a lack of blood in Singapore, a system of regulating the blood stock is definitely important isn’t it?
True, it is because of this system that has caused the lack of blood for the lady, but without this system, a possible misuse of the blood bank could lead to even more disasterous situations, couldn’t it?
Imagine blood being freely given to anybody that did not desperately need it. What would happen when one person suddenly arrived at the hospital from a car accident with absolutely no blood left for him?
However, let me specify that I do not believe that the system itself is perfect. Kevin’s comments above ‘The Blood center is CLOSED on Monday & public holidays.’ is a very good example of an obvious flaw within the system itself that could be easily changed to benefit the people of Singapore.
Singapore is actaully moving towards becoming a global hub. But still, this incident showing blatently that she still has a long way to go.
Btw, the woman is the mom of my friend’s sec school classmate… Let me just bring it to you that they are actually now doing fine.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I pray that they’all would recover from this chapter in their lives soon…
July 12th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
‘Btw, the woman is the mom of my friend’s sec school classmate… Let me just bring it to you that they are actually now doing fine.’
Death of a loved one is always devastating. Having died under such unclear circumstances, the least you could do is to show some respect and not post flippant remarks such as ‘they are actually now doing fine’.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
I’m sorry to hear about such a sad case. It is very tragic. I’ve always thought that when blood was needed, close friends and family can donate blood in the hospital straightaway without needing to go to the National Blood Centre.
I don’t know too much about the system in general to comment but perhaps they should make it such that blood should be available 24/7 to patients who need it, be it donated right then and there or transferred from the blood bank.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Shes my cousin..
yah and u shld show some respect KH
July 13th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Anon,
How are the twin babies doing?
Is there anything they need? Anything other mommies can do to help?
July 18th, 2007 at 2:28 am
Well, guess Shane Shady’s not standing up.