April 7 was World Health Day. It passed practically unnoticed.

It is sad that the importance of health is only given one day a year. Shouldn’t each and every day be a health day at the individual and collective levels?

If there is one lesson that Covid-19 has taught us, it is that of all the aspirations for our lives, health is first and foremost.

For many years, the Government has been allocating a big portion of its spending to defence. In 2020, it set aside about S$15.1 billion to defence, the biggest ticket item. Health had the second-biggest allocation of S$13.4 billion, followed by education.

Where defence expenditure is concerned, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has referred to it as “significant but indispensable”. We are told that Singapore cannot waver in its commitment to defence and security.

But what I am a little sad about is that spending on defence is often referred to as an investment, but spending on health is considered an expenditure and appears to be allocated grudgingly.

Also, whenever the subject of increased health spending comes up, ageism rears its head. This increased spending is always explained by the fact that more people are living longer. We are repeatedly told that the Government has to spend an ever-larger percentage of its income because the population is ageing and the taxpayer will have to bear this burden. There is no such recrimination for defence spending.

Policymakers will have to stop voicing their unfounded worries about increasing health expenditure as long as the outcomes match the health inputs. Our leaders must remember that health, just like defence, is of strategic importance and needs significant investment.

Health maintenance, disease treatment and epidemic preparedness must be the three pillars of our health strategy. We must stop the alarmist and constant reminders of an ageing population by the media and policymakers. These reminders are ageist as they are nearly always couched in negative terms and cause intergenerational discord.

Research from Harvard University in the United States has demonstrated that nations with a five-year advantage in life expectancy show an increase in gross domestic product.

As we look to the post-pandemic period when we build our lives again, policymakers are planning to bolster Singapore’s social and economic resilience. They might want to heed the advice of the late American economist Robert Fogel who said: “The railroad was the economic driver in the 19th century, the automobile and oil in the 20th century, and healthcare innovation will be in the 21st.”

Let us hope that the healthcare innovations of this century will add to our economic and social resilience, and enable us to live longer, healthier, happier and purposeful lives.

ABOUT THE WRITER:

Dr Kanwaljit Soin is an orthopaedic surgeon and a former Nominated Member of Parliament.

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