Patients free to choose paying service

REFERRING to the letter “Protect private care patients” (The Star, April 4), the Health Ministry (MOH) would like to inform that there are numerous misleading and inaccurate information in it which we would like to clarify.

The MOH’s full paying patient (FPP) service is offered by selected government hospitals to patients who can afford to pay. They are given the option and opportunity to be treated by an eligible specialist of their choice and would be charged fully without subsidies from the government for their medical treatment and services. This service is completely voluntary as it is entirely the patient’s choice to take it, and it is not to be commercialised as a profit-making scheme.