Recount Of My Recent Day Surgery And The Importance Of Medical Insurance

Yesterday, just underwent a minor day surgery at hospital and this post is just a recount of my experience and also touch a bit on the importance of Medical Insurance, especially Singapore since the medical cost is high. 

The condition that I had is sebaceous cyst (x 2) and the day surgery that I went through is excision biopsy (as per the specialist, the cysts should be benign but there is a risk that it might be growing in size if leave them there, hence, I've made a quick decision to get them removed ASAP). As I decided to do the op in a Private Hospital and hence it can be arranged quite quickly.

Even though it is deemed a minor day surgery that requires only LA (local anesthesia) but the preparation before and after the surgery is kind of intensive too. My op is scheduled at 10.30 AM and I need to reach the hospital 2 hours earlier for pre-op registration/preparation  (kind of like doing check-in before boarding the plane lol). 

After the registration counter staff explained/confirmed with me on my surgery, I was made to sign a number of papers (just like signing-up a telco service lol). One of document showing an estimated bill size (my op is estimated to cost around $4K to $5K), as I am existing Integrated Shield holder, I am entitled to the waiver of deposit and the bill will be efile directly to my insurer for their assessment (on both the insurer's liability as well as the Medishield Life's liability, latter is under CPF Board), the hospital will bill me only if there is any balance not sufficiently covered by my Integrated Shield Plan and Medisave Account. In short, I discharged without paying anything for the time being. This is the part that I would like to emphasize the importance of personal Medical Insurance especially in Singapore. Of course, for Singaporean and Singapore Permanent Residence, the national Medishield Life coverage is compulsory but I personally view that it is not sufficient, hence Integrated Shield Coverage is here to supplement it and provide the features like waiver of deposit (letter of guarantee) benefit (by selected insurers). This (waiver of deposit) is especially important if you need to be admitted to the hospital urgently or need to go through a major operation, you and your family members can have a peace of mind that medical cost will likely be taken care of (at least a main part of it).  

After the registration, one of the nurse led me to the Day Surgery ward/bed to get myself changed and prepare for the op. Before pushing me to the OT (operating theater) room, there are 2 rounds of verification (by 2 different batch of nurses) of my particulars and confirmation that I am aware of the surgery that I am going to go through. I am not sure whether this is the practice in Private Hospital only but I have no complain since it is important to ensure that correct op is done on the correct patience by the correct doctor. 

The OT room is huge, cold and clean. After gently "rolled" me onto the OT bed, the nurses prepare myself for the op by attaching a couple of sensors on my body to the monitoring devices (like blood pressure and heartbeat etc..). As I am only on LA, I was awake throughout the whole surgery, only the injection (of the LA) part give me a tinge of pain, the rest are just numbness (even though I can still feel the pulling and stretching of my skin but there is no pain, the beauty of anesthetic). All in all, the surgery took about 1 hour and the outcome is the successful removal of 2 egg-shape like cysts.

After the op, the nurses push me back to the day surgery ward where I stayed there for another 2 hours before "checking-out". During this period, porridge and coffee was served.  

That's all I have to share for my maiden day surgery experience. Overall, it is a smooth sailing experience, for now, I will focus on the recovery. 

Stay Healthy and Stay Happy!

Cheers!