Quality of Death Index: Singapore ranked 2nd in Asia, 12th globally

By

Nisha Ramchandaninishar@sph.com.sg@Nisha_BT

Singapore has emerged second in Asia - and 12th globally - in the 2015 Quality of Death Index, behind Taiwan which was in top spot for the region. 

PHOTO: AFP

OCT 6, 20153:31 PM

SINGAPORE has emerged second in Asia - and 12th globally - in the 2015 Quality of Death Index, behind Taiwan which was in top spot for the region.

The report by the Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed and ranked 80 countries in five categories, including palliative care and healthcare environment; the affordability of care and quality of care.

Singapore has moved up the rankings since the 2010 Quality of Death Index, where it was ranked 18th as it lacked a national palliative care strategy then. The attention and resources that the government has devoted to palliative care since has paid off.

In affordability of care and quality of care, Singapore was ranked sixth and eight respectively.

For instance, the daily withdrawal limits for Medisave usage for palliative care has been raised and there is no longer a cap on Medisave usage for patients with terminal illnesses. There are also 51 registered palliative care specialists today, up from 33 in 2011.

Dr Angel Lee, chairman of Singapore Hospice Council and senior consultant Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said: "Palliative care is now part of the healthcare language in Singapore. It is the result of the close partnership between policymakers, hospice activists and palliative care providers working together towards better solutions to improve care for the dying. This has brought about positive changes in funding, new services and in-patient facilities, guidelines and new training programmes."

However, where Singapore needs to improve is community engagement as there is a lack of awareness of hospice palliative care.

"While there has been recent efforts to promote advance care planning in the healthcare system, Singapore can do more to encourage candid discussions on palliative care and end-of-life matters; and to enforce the idea that such discussions do not only have to take place when illness strikes," the report suggested. The government too can play a lead role in pushing for community engagement in palliative care.

Capacity is also another issue, especially given Singapore's greying population. Singapore was ranked 20th in terms of capacity for delivering palliative care.

The number of inpatient hospice beds grew from 137 beds in 2011 to only 147 in 2014. Based on Singapore's ageing trend, the government's plans for 360 inpatient beds by 2020 would need twice the current manpower and expertise, the report noted.

Another area of concern is the current financing model for palliative care services as such services are often funded by charities, raising the question of sustainability since charities rely on donations.

Palliative care services at present are means-tested and funded by a mix of government subvention, Medisave and Medifund - but there is a bias towards acute care, the report pointed out.

The report also highlighted the need for doctors and nurses to be better equipped with basic and better palliative care knowledge.

A Lien Foundation survey in 2014 found that only 44 per cent of doctors and 59 per cent of nurses with frequent contact with terminally ill patients in Singapore said they were familiar with hospice palliative care.

    
 

Indonesia doing best it can to combat haze: disaster chief

Indonesia's disaster chief on Tuesday rejected criticism his country was not doing enough to combat the haze crisis, saying every possible resource was being deployed to fight the forest fires blanketing South-east Asia in smog. 

PHOTO: AFP

OCT 6, 20154:31 PM

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's disaster chief on Tuesday rejected criticism his country was not doing enough to combat the haze crisis, saying every possible resource was being deployed to fight the forest fires blanketing South-east Asia in smog.

Indonesia has come under growing pressure from its neighbours in recent weeks as thick smoke from fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan has sent pollution levels soaring in Malaysia and Singapore, where schools have been closed and major outdoor events cancelled.

The blazes flare annually during the dry season as fires are illegally set to clear land for cultivation. But an El Nino weather system has made conditions on track to become the most severe on record.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has urged Indonesia to take action, saying only Jakarta has the authority to investigate the cause of the fires and convict those responsible.

But Indonesia has rejected suggestions it is not doing enough, with the country's disaster chief saying everything possible was being utilised.

"We have done the best we can," Willem Rampangilei told reporters.

"It is understandable if other countries are upset, but we Indonesians are more upset." Pollution in Singapore and Malaysia has tipped beyond hazardous levels since the haze outbreak began last month, while concentrations more than five times that limit have been recorded on Kalimantan, Indonesia's half of Borneo island.

Singapore has offered to help combat the fires, volunteering a Hercules plane and IT expertise, but Indonesia has insisted it has the equipment necessary to do the job.

Rampangilei said Indonesia had four planes on standby to conduct cloud seeding, but conditions in the past week had stymied attempts to produce artificial rain.

Efforts by more than a dozen helicopters to waterbomb hot spots have several times been thwarted by thick smoke, he added.

Rampangilei said more troops and police would be deployed to fight the fires, while authorities were considering dumping 40 tonnes of fire retardant on smouldering peatlands.

More than 1,200 hotspots were still active in Sumatra and Kalimantan as of Tuesday, the disaster agency said, while around 140,000 people have reported respiratory infections due to the thick smog.

AFP

    
 

Neutrino scientists win Nobel Prize for Physics

Japan's Takaaki Kajita and Canada's Arthur B. McDonald won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery that neutrinos have mass, the award-giving body said on Tuesday. 

PHOTO: EPA

OCT 6, 20156:09 PM

[STOCKHOLM] Japan's Takaaki Kajita and Canada's Arthur B. McDonald won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery that neutrinos have mass, the award-giving body said on Tuesday. "The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the 8 million Swedish crown (S$1.37 million) prize.

Physics is the second of this year's Nobels. The prizes were first awarded in 1901 to honour achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and business tycoon Alfred Nobel.

REUTERS

IMF cuts world growth forecast

OCT 6, 201510:36 PM

[LIMA] The IMF on Tuesday cut its growth forecast for the world economy for 2015 and 2016, warning of growing risks from the slowdown in China and other emerging markets.

The global economy will expand just 3.1 per cent this year and 3.6 per cent next year, the IMF predicted, revising down its previous forecasts by 0.2 percentage points in both cases.

Even though wealthy countries are showing signs of recovery - led by US growth forecasts at 2.6 per cent for 2015 and 2.8 per cent for 2016 - the world economy is on track for its worst year since the global recession of 2009, after growing 3.4 per cent last year, the IMF said.

"Downside risks to the world economy appear more pronounced than they did just a few months ago," it said in its latest biannual report, published ahead of its yearly meeting in Lima, Peru.

"Near-term economic growth still looks stronger in advanced economies, compared with the recent past, but weaker in the emerging market and developing economies." The slowdown in China, set to grow 6.3 per cent next year - its lowest rate in 25 years - is taking a toll on other emerging economies that depended on the Asian giant's ravenous appetite for their raw materials.

Prices of oil, metals, minerals and other commodities have sunk as the world's second-largest economy has cooled, jolting the emerging markets whose boom salvaged world growth after the 2008-2009 crisis.

Once-mighty Brazil is facing a three per cent contraction this year - twice as bad as predicted in the IMF's last outlook, in July - and sub-Saharan Africa is set for growth of 3.8 per cent, 1.2 points off the pace it registered last year.

The United States' looming decision to raise interest rates is also taking a toll on emerging economies as investors stop parking cash there in search of higher returns, the IMF said.

While the eurozone is set for growth of 1.5 per cent this year and 1.6 per cent next, the IMF warned of a newly "difficult" outlook for Greece.

It also said conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East posed "geopolitical risks" and issued its first-ever warning on the refugee crisis in Europe, which it said risked taking an "immense" social and economic toll.

AFP