高效率如何衡量？
How to measure standard of efficiency?
吴俊刚By Goh Choon Kang (来源：英语杂志 http://www.EnglishCN.com)

　　Emotions ran high when Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who returned to Singapore from London last week, spoke on Sunday about the ordeal of his wife suffering a stroke there. The voice of the usually stoic Mr Lee cracked and the deep affection he has for his wife is clear.

　　When I was a journalist in the 80s, I had covered many overseas trips by Mr Lee who was then the Prime Minister. Mrs Lee, a role-model wife who always accompanied Mr Lee on such visits, would take meticulous care of Mr Lee"s daily needs.

　　The anxiety felt by the 80-year-old Mr Lee is understandable when, during an overseas trip, he suddenly found himself having to attend to his wife who has always been by his side to take care of him. Fortunately, Mrs Lee has returned home for treatment and is now recovering.

　　Many people will testify to the torment of waiting for treatment in a long queue in an emergency as everyone hopes to receive immediate attention from doctors and nurses. The truth is, even in Singapore which boasts a fairly efficient health-care system, this is still a tall order.

　　It is not uncommon to hear the man in the street gripe about hospital services. Just imagine, even Mr Lee, given his status and prestige, was “neglected” at a public hospital in London. What would happen to an ordinary Singaporean?

　　However, Mrs Lee did get a CT scan earlier and the location of the blood clot was identified. On this account, we should still be thankful to the British side. The fact that the scan was carried out in the early hours shows that even though the health-care system in Britain faces serious structural problems - the result of an over-emphasis on welfare over the years - it can still mobilise resources to meet urgent needs.

　　In our case, this ability to marshal resources in an emergency is shown in swift reaction by hospitals here and SIA. In just 48 hours, a plane was turned into an “airborne hospital” and flown to London to bring Mrs Lee home for treatment.

　　This is, however, not a good assessment of the efficiency of our health-care system and we can"t say with certainty that Singapore is well-equipped to respond to an emergency.

　　The litmus test of our health-care system lies in its ability to react quickly to a sudden “attack”. How we handled the Sars outbreak in March this year would, I think, be a better gauge.

　　Every country will accord its leaders or other key members special treatment. This should not surprise anyone. For a true measure of the efficiency of a country"s health-care system, what is more crucial is what kind of treatment the ordinary people get.

　　We should, of course, draw lessons from the dire straits welfare states find themselves in. A son of a friend of mine, who graduated from medicine from a British university and did his internship in a specialist hospital there, also noted that the former empire has lost its glory - its hospital equipment is not even comparable to ours.

　　The biggest problem is the shortage of funds, a result of the heavy burden of free health-care services on the nation. This observation is consistent with Mr Lee"s.

　　Going beyond the limit is as bad as falling short. European nations, including Britain, have perhaps gone overboard in providing its citizens with free medical care, something which they now find impossible to reverse.

　　Singaporeans have no wish of seeing Singapore go down the wrong path. But they do often feel that the government has not done enough and can be more generous with its budget for health care.

　　Some measures were announced recently by Acting Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to get public hospitals to cut costs and ensure costs remain affordable. The efforts are commendable and I truly hope our health-care system will work towards becoming more and more people-centred and efficient.

·The writer is a former MP and a current affairs commentator. Translated by Yap Gee Poh.