PICTURE CREDIT

hospital-only settings .

Personally , I recall having a sigmoidoscopy

in the gastroenterologist

’ s rooms .

In my earlier days as a GP , I was

also aware of female patients who

received cystoscopies in the urologist

’ s office and male patients who

received vasectomies in his rooms .

It often meant that patients who

did not have private insurance had

necessary investigations and minor

procedures done at minimal cost .

Now , things have changed , and I

fear for the worst .

As an illustrative case , let ’ s take my husband , who had an unusual lesion on his face .

ALAMY

The dermatologist did a shave

biopsy , which revealed it was a BCC .

who have complained about the

• Pathology fees : $ 126.24 ,

The procedure could have been

with hefty gaps to pay for hospital

Ordinarily , she would just

user-unfriendly software .

plus $ 21.42

done in an office room setting and ,

admission with their policy .

remove it in her rooms , but because

My husband had to pack up all

• Plastic surgeon : $ 279.80

by my estimates , would have saved

As we all know from our daily

she was in the midst of moving to

his medications and bring them to

Grand total : $ 1573.46 .

about $ 1100 .

work treating patients , access to

a new facility and under duress ,

hospital , as if a lengthy stay was

That nurse item was interesting .

I notice that more and more der-

public hospital outpatient depart-

she referred my husband to a plas-

matologists are getting facilities

ments is almost impossible when

tic surgeon , requiring a wait for an additional appointment before the excision could be completed . All that I can fully understand . I was surprised , however , that a

Since when do you need to be given a hospital gown when a skin lesion is on your face ?

accredited as day procedure centres , so I assume this qualifies them for earning all the hospital extra fees .

Are the standards for infection control in accredited hospitals that

one considers the waiting time for the initial appointment . Then comes the further interminable delays for elective procedures .

There is much truth in the idea

hospital admission was booked for

much greater than in an office with

that healthcare delayed is health-

the excision .

envisioned .

From what we saw , this was pay-

a treatment room and access to

care denied .

There was nothing fancy about

And since when do you need to

ment to cover the cost of the nurse

sterilisation equipment ?

Hospitalisation should be

it : no Mohs surgery required , no

be given a hospital gown when a

handing him a gown and then later

The deeper point here is that the

restricted to complicated surger-

skin flaps .

skin lesion is on your face ?

a sandwich .

current system entrenches ineq-

ies . One does not need a cordon

There was a big rigmarole about

The itemisation of his account

We had gold cover so did not

uity in access for patients without

bleu kitchen if you are ordering a

filling out all the comprehen-

by our health fund afterwards was

experience any out-of-pocket costs ,

any private hospital insurance . And

McDonald ’ s burger .

sive forms for hospital admission

as follows :

but you wonder how can the system

even those patients ’ cheaper hos-

online , which was onerous for both my husband and for other patients

• Theatre fees : $ 635

• Nursing fees : $ 511

under so much stress cope with this type of extravagance ?

pital insurance that falls short of being comprehensive can be left

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