Professor keen to change healthcare financing here

SINGAPORE — After answering the question on why he chose to enter politics — his reply being that many things in Singapore could be better — Professor Paul Tambyah is often asked why he chose to get involved with the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).

It is because of the SDP’s “very clearly defined philosophy”. “The SDP believes in building a democratic society based on justice and equality, the SDP believes in social justice and the SDP also believes and trusts in the people of Singapore,” he said.

Singapore has excellent healthcare infrastructure and staff, but the healthcare financing model is based on “certain assumptions which I think ... are morally questionable”, said Prof Tambyah.

Deductibles — the portion of bills patients have to pay before insurance kicks in — are still “very, very high” under the MediShield Life framework that takes effect in November, he said.

According to his biography published by the SDP, Prof Tambyah tried to “work within the system for years”, but eventually concluded that the only way to make real change in Singapore’s healthcare financing and other social policies had to be through the political system.

He was involved in the SDP’s healthcare plan and education policy.

He also spoke passionately about immigration policy at yesterday’s press conference, saying the SDP was not against immigration. “We don’t want people who come here and use us as a stepping stone, and at the same time, we don’t want to exploit the people who come here,” he said.

Asked how he would acquaint himself with duties of running a town council should he be elected, Prof Tambyah pointed to the SDP’s town council management plan and said the party had experience in this area in the 1990s.

Several long-time supporters were also involved in running the town council then, and he promised that the SDP would “hit the ground running”. NEO CHAI CHIN

Paul Ananth Tambyah, 50

Professor of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS)

Senior Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician, National University Hospital

Fact File:

• Completed medical school at NUS and trained in infectious diseases at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Currently secretary-general of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, has won research and teaching awards

• Married to an NUS senior marketing lecturer

He said:

“Many people ask me this question: ‘You have a relatively comfortable life as a doctor and a professor, so why did you get involved in politics?’ And my answer is, I feel that there are many things that could be better in Singapore.”