WE THANK Mr Vincent Ong Kok Lam for his feedback, and apologise for the long waiting time he and his wife experienced at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Endoscopy Centre ("Find ways to tackle long waiting times in hospitals"; Forum Online, April 21).
Endoscopic procedures are usually diagnostic, with fairly fast turnover. The entire process includes assessment, preparation for the procedure - for example, sedation, if required - the actual procedure, and recovery time from the sedation.
Our doctors may also need to do a preliminary review, which can be done only after the patient has recovered from sedation.
From time to time, our doctors are also required to perform therapy during the endoscopy, which can lengthen the procedure time for the individual patient.
On the morning of Mrs Ong's procedure, our centre was seeing several patients who required unexpected and complex procedures. This resulted in a delay for patients, like Mrs Ong, who were scheduled in the afternoon.
We seek the patience and understanding of our patients and their caregivers that as an acute tertiary hospital, we may see complex cases which may require our doctors to spend more time than anticipated with our patients.
Christopher Khor (Dr)
Director
Endoscopy Centre
Singapore General Hospital
