I agree with Deputy Prime
Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam that the public’s trust in a new and more
challenging environment is going to get more complex with competing interests
and rising expectations in the report, “Tharman: Three things that will retain
public trust (The New Paper, March 27).
DPM
Tharman’s call for the civil service to make sure that polices take into
account feedback on the ground for the people’s wellbeing, is encouraging.
In
order for civil servants to fully understand the concerns of our citizens, it
is vital to obtain feedback from all sectors of the population and not just a
selected few. The long and short of it all is to have widespread consultations
in crafting and refining government policies. To this end, I suggest that civil servants and
policy makers invite forum writers, caregivers, patients and social activists
before such policies get implemented. They
should not shy away from seeking candid and frank views from this group.
As
far as healthcare is concerned, often the views of health care providers,
social workers and voluntary welfare organisations are obtained during public
forums. However, as these workers are
not living with those who are in dire need of support and care, they will not
fully understand the suffering which this group faces and they may not present
the full picture. Patients and
caregivers are the right people to obtain feedback from because they are
walking the journey and the government needs to understand the difficulties
caregivers face as they manage their care recipients 24/7.
Caregivers
need to have an ongoing relationship with the government so that policies can
be better formulated. This is vital as
the families' desire for
emotionally sensitive care needs to be taken into consideration.
With
more diversified views, the government will be in a far better position to
craft and fine-tune its policies that will be beneficial to all Singaporeans.
RAYMOND ANTHONY FERNANDO
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