Nearly $157 million in MediFund assistance disbursed over FY2018
SINGAPORE — Needy Singaporeans received almost $157 million in assistance from the Medical Endowment Fund (MediFund) over the 2018 financial year, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday (26 November).
MediFund provided a total of $156.5 million across approximately 1.23 million applications through 1 April last year to 31 March.
On average, the amount of funding assistance provided was $917 per inpatient treatment, and $87 per outpatient treatment, said MOH.
The sum is slightly higher than the $149.8 million provided the year before, while the number of approved MediFund applications also increased by 5.1 per cent.
Of the amount disbursed over 2018, $124.2 million was provided to patients in public hospitals and institutions, while the remaining amount was provided to those in intermediate and long-term care facilities. By comparison, $119.9 million was provided to those in the first group, with the remainder disbursed to those in the latter group, in FY2017.
There were also 148 MediFund-approved institutions in FY2018, nine more from the year before.
“The MOH will continue to work closely with MediFund committees to manage the MediFund budget, to ensure that sufficient funds are available to assist needy Singapore citizens with their medical bills,” said the ministry in its annual report.
Created by the government in 1993, MediFund assists Singaporean patients who are unable to afford their medical bills after government subsidies, MediShield Life and MediSave.
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