New

Message #2 of the meeting: We should be cost-cautious when prescribing expensive medications to our patients.

That’s no news. Nonetheless, CP reminded the few of us who are not familiar with the public relation tactics of the Hospital Authority, “Some of you may say the government has given us extra money to cover the cost of many new and expensive medicines, and wonder why we should hold our purse tight. The problem is, the extra funding that we get is for new patients. In other words, by receiving the money, we have to meet a target and start certain number of new patients each year on these expensive medicines. After one year, these patients are no longer new, and, if they need to continue with their expensive treatment, we have to use our own budget; although we continue to receive the money, we have to use it for starting treatment on new patients – and the vicious cycle continues.”

“Gosh! Most of the drugs that we use are for the treatment of chronic diseases. It is silly for the extra-terrestrials to expect the treatment would last for only a year!” Some of us murmured.

I smiled, “I suppose our friends outside the solar system are trying to suggest we should hold off treatment until a patient could live only for a year!”