(Dec 7) FROM next month, foreigners will no longer be subsidised at public hospitals.

Subsidies for permanent residents will also be reduced.

The subsidy cuts, first announced last year, are part of the Government's move to 'treat visitors well, but citizens better', as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had put it.

They are aimed at reminding citizens of the benefits they enjoy, and encouraging more permanent residents to take up citizenship.

The cuts are expected to amount to savings of $36 million a year, which will be channelled back into health-care subsidies for citizens.

The one million foreigners here will now have to pay the full cost of medical treatment at public hospitals.

The subsidy cut for the more than half a million permanent residents here will be carried out in two stages.

Next month, their subsidy will be cut by five percentage points, followed by a similar cut in July - making it a 10-point cut in all.

After July next year, their stay in a C-class ward, for example, will be subsidised by 70 per cent, instead of the 80 per cent Singaporeans get.

The fee hikes for foreigners and permanent residents will apply to B1-, B2- and C-class wards, day surgery and specialist outpatient clinic visits.

But fees will remain unchanged at one important location: the emergency department.

The Health Ministry reiterated yesterday that for emergency services, 'all patients will continue to be charged the same fees, regardless of nationality'.

Foreigners or permanent residents make up fewer than one in 10 admissions and outpatient visits in public hospitals.

This is not the first time the Health Ministry has cut subsidies for non-citizens. Last year, polyclinics started charging non-citizens more for both treatment and medication.

Foreigners now pay the full consultation fee of $16 and permanent residents pay $12 at polyclinics.

Citizens pay $8 while children and seniors pay only $4.

Miss Lok Siow Ling, a Malaysian national and a permanent resident here, was worried about having to pay a much bigger sum if she had to be hospitalised.

The 28-year-old editor of a publishing firm said: 'A cut of 10 percentage points makes quite a big difference, especially with inflation over time.'

While she has no plans to leave Singapore soon, she is also not considering taking up citizenship - at the moment.

huichieh@sph.com.sg

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