Photo by Arseny Togulev on Unsplash
At the start of the year, I visited a secondary school friend of mine who was hospitalized after he underwent craniotomy. This was a major surgery to temporarily remove part of the skull to expose the brain and remove a tumour in it. It sounded scary as hell when I first googled the term. Thankfully, he is on the road for a successful recovery and I wish him all the best.
That sets the context for this blog article. At the hospital ward, he shared his experience of seeking help in the public health system before eventually settling on a neurosurgeon from the private sector. As I left the hospital that day, his experience left me pondering whether I should upgrade my health insurance policy, also known as integrated shield plan in Singapore?
What Happened To Heartland Boy’s Friend
Let me first disclaim that since this anecdote may have some inaccuracies, but I believe that I have captured the gist of it. This is the timeline of events.
My friend first experienced double vision around 3Q 2023 and went to the polyclinic. He was referred to a medical centre that provides specialist outpatient consultations.Around early December, he went for his appointment and did a comprehensive set of tests for his eyes. The conclusion was that everything was normal for his eyes, except that the optic nerves were observed to be swollen which was a potential life-threatening situation. The specialist recommended him to get a CT scan on his brain from the A&E immediately.The very same day, he went to the A&E section of a government restructured hospital and performed a CT scan. A mass was detected and the doctor ordered a MRI which is a more detailed scan.A few days later,
