Honestly, I am pretty excited, because from the age of 21 till 32, I did not have a chance to vote.
This year I'm 33, I'm praying that I have that chance to vote for my country.
Some of you might start to wonder, why would a nurse blog about politics in her nursing blog? What has politics have to do with nursing professionalism?
Nursing and politics shouldn't be mixed at all.
From age 8 to 19: I sang "Majulah Singapura" and cited Singapore pledge with pride. Really I remembered those moments, especially during national day, there would be this stirring pride in my heart. I'm serious -- I was very proud to be a Singaporean, and knew that our independence and development hadn't been easy.
I was excited to see open-topped cars with loudspeakers, PAP logo and yes, usually a man wearing white waving down the streets of Ang Mo Kio and even the early Bishan. As a child, my family mattered the most, having a roof over my head, good living conditions, able to attend schools, no wars and no riots. Under the safe and loving environment, I grew up aspiring to be a nurse to serve my own country.
Age 20 to 24: I started working as a staff nurse in a restructured hospital. I gradually understood the healthcare system within a ward, within an organisation and as a system providing healthcare needs to Singaporeans. Anybody working as a nurse in Singapore, at one time or another will dread this system and want to give up nursing. I had my fair share. That time, I think little of been a Singaporean, nursing in other countries are much more professional. The policies governing their education, development, welfare, safety concerns -- are more detailed and well-thought. 3 basic things: Nurse-patient ratio, Nurses' basic education standard and Nurses' professionalism (pay pegged to level of recognised professionals e.g. teachers).
Even though with 4A1s in both Pure Maths; Pure Bio and Pure Chemistry in O Levels, I forsook the expected JC path and enrolled into Nanyang Polytechnic for nursing diploma. With no local universities offering nursing degree course, when other professions can have the simpler route from JC to local universities, I tediously saved money and travelled to Australia to pursue my own nursing degree. I was envious. Truly envious of Australia, Canada and US nursing system. Neighbouring countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines and Thailand have universities with nursing faculties. I seriously don't like to mention at that time I'm from Singapore. Pride as a Singaporean, well I had forgotten how it feels like. Though at present, there is a local university that has nursing faculty, my heart goes out to the polytechnic graduated RNs who have the potential to do their degrees and yet need to fork out higher costs to pursue their nursing degree education.
Age 25 to present: Having returned from Australia, I had the privilege to experience primary care to tertiary care especially in the area of diabetes care. I'd personally seen and attended to patients having difficulty financially, till they would rather not seek treatment or stop their medications. Patients who are visually challenged, needing to draw their insulin, and we had difficulty finding social help for them. Patients staying under bridges, and temples, "homeless" from one children place to another. The list of medications in standard list that allow for subsidising is often limited and unbalanced versus the list of "new" medications that proven to help the diseases. Our MSWs are swarmed daily but are often limited by governing policies.
I finally realise System, system, system, at the end of the day, is still the system.
Micro system ruled by macro system governed by national system.
That is why I am resigned. Resigned to the "it's like that", "Singapore is like that" mentality.
-- How is country run, what values does it emphasize?
-- How does a country value health?
-- How much money does a country want to put to healthcare sector?
-- How much money does a country want to put in to help those who are needy with established diseases?
-- Does the country want to emphasize local nursing education development or earning from foreign universities based in Singapore?
-- Does the country want to emphasize on local healthcare people development or earnings from agents recruiting foreign nurses/ healthcare personnel?
-- Does the country want to re-look at nurse-patient ratio, nursing hours, nursing pay in comparison to local professionals like teachers, police, regular SAFs, etc. and drawing comparison to overseas nursing pay rank among professionals to retain our own nursing local talents?
Please do not say that this will inflate healthcare costs and transfer the guilt to tender nursing hearts, because it is mooted by the same argument of not charging citizens for low crime rates, and not charging citizens for the hefty costs of defence, not increasing school fees because rising costs in education while providing affordable quality education. This is only true if the budget for healthcare remains constant and poor allocation of financial resources.
Does the country want to do the above to attract locals into nursing for our future generation?
The road of status quo is like palliative care. Whatever additional changes are like "comfort care". As long as underlying basic policies of funding to healthcare and areas of emphasis are not changed, nothing will change for the better. No matter how much I yearn to be 8 again, seeing nursing itself and politics as something else, is wishful thinking. Politics influences healthcare tremendously; the needs of my patients and unfortunately, nursing. I'm resigned because it is politics, and 'nothing to do with nursing'. If I am given a chance to vote, at least, I can vote for a hope. Like a patient with a terminal illness, anything else represents hope.
