Speech By Mr Lim Boon Heng, NTUC Secretary-General and Minister, Prime Minister’s Office at the Healthcare 10th Anniversary Dinner on 30 August 2002, at Hotel Inter-Continental
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Evening
I am happy to be here today to join you in celebrating NTUC Healthcare's 10th Anniversary. I wish to congratulate you on this major milestone.
The first NTUC co-operative was set up more than thirty years ago. Today, there are altogether 10 NTUC co-operatives. The co-operatives were organised to fulfill their social objectives of helping to moderate cost increases by setting benchmark prices. They have done this admirably and will continue to play this significant role.
Last week, the NTUC released its Social Report Card for 2002, the co-operatives had once again reaffirmed their social responsibilities. The report card showed that all of the NTUC co-operatives had helped consumers stretch their hard-earned dollars by providing quality products and services at affordable prices.
Each co-operative has a clear social objective. You had seen, from the corporate video screened just now, how NTUC Healthcare was set up in 1992 to moderate the cost of healthcare in Singapore. In the course of its 10 years of operations, it had helped to bring the costs of medicine down through its chain of Unity pharmacy outlets.
NTUC Healthcare provides primary healthcare services in the area of pharmacy and managed healthcare.
Pharmacy
In the area of Pharmacy, NTUC Healthcare, through its retail pharmacy chain, Unity, maintains a basket of 60 common healthcare products. These items are considered essential and basic healthcare items. They include prescription, OTC (Over the Counter), rehabcare items and health supplements. The recent report card showed that 92% of this basket of common healthcare products were priced lower than its competitor.
This policy by NTUC Healthcare allows consumers to continue to have access to affordable healthcare items even during difficult times. During the past 2 recessions, the NTUC Healthcare relief package of 5% discounts on 1000 common items had helped Singaporeans cushion the impact of the downturn.
In addition, Unity promotes the use of good quality generic items. These are items that carry the same active ingredient as patented brands, but are cheaper, because the patent rights have expired and the product may now be marketed by any brand. This gives consumers considerable savings.
Managed healthcare
NTUC Healthcare, through its associate company, MHC Healthcare, is able to moderate and monitor healthcare costs through its Web-based HealthAxon system which has linked up some 150 clinics island-wide.
This network of MHC clinics provides outpatient care to individuals and corporate clients. The fully wired-up network enables MHC to monitor the utilisation of outpatient services by corporate patients and to manage patient care by the providers. This has helped many companies to control and adjudicate healthcare costs. The competitive advantage provided by information technology is the reason it was selected by 2 major international insurance companies as strategic partners for a managed care programme locally and in the region.
To be even more effective in benchmarking healthcare costs, MHC plans to expand both its network of 150 GP affiliate members and its flagship clinics from the current 10.
Come October, consumers would be able to look forward to even better service from NTUC Healthcare, with the merger of NTUC Denticare with NTUC Healthcare. This merger will consolidate all its healthcare initiatives under one organisation and allow the co-operative to enjoy greater economies of scale, thereby further benefiting its customers.
Franchisees
As a means to engage its community as it grows, NTUC Healthcare, through its retail pharmacy chain, Unity, has a successful franchise scheme to give Singaporeans with an inclination for entrepreneurship an opportunity to secure a livelihood through alternative career options. This is consistent with NTUC co-operatives' philosophy of working with external partners as much as possible to achieve win-win outcomes. Results from these franchise operations show that the franchises are doing as well as the non-franchise Unity outlets.
The partnership between NTUC Healthcare and the franchisees allow the franchisees to tap on bulk purchase capabilities of NTUC Healthcare while exercising discretion over the product mix in their outlets to better accommodate the customer profile of their operating environment.
In addition, franchisees are also able to draw upon the support of NTUC's 370,000-strong union membership base. This, together with the NTUC brand name that many associate with trustworthiness and reliability, gives franchisees a distinct advantage in their business enterprises.
OTC Endowment Fund
As a further demonstration of Healthcare's commitment towards its social objectives, I am pleased that NTUC Healthcare will be making a donation of $100,000 toward the Ong Teng Cheong Endowment Fund. This Endowment Fund had been set up by the NTUC to support the training of union leaders for degree, or diploma programmes so that they may be able to serve their members even better.
Conclusion
In the years ahead, Singapore is expected to have one of the highest rates of an ageing population which will be increasingly sophisticated and discriminating. Biomedical science will bring exciting and new ways of treatment.
What role would NTUC Healthcare play in this ever-changing landscape? How should it position itself amongst the other members of this industry? What strategic advantages would it leverage on? How will these translate into lower costs for consumers?
These are questions that NTUC Healthcare would have to consider as it keeps abreast of developments within the industry.
Just as it had grown from strength to strength for the past 10 years, I am confident NTUC Healthcare would similarly rise to its challenges as it looks forward to more decades to come.
Have an enjoyable evening!
