Medical Fees in Singapore

I am going to discuss this issue due to the need for me to visit either a polyclinic or a private clinic when I was down with fever one day during my internship period. Without consulting a doctor, I will not be given medical leave to official skip work in order to rest at home to recover and not spread the disease to my colleagues and the others who will come into contact with me throughout the few days. However, I will not have this issue if I am not interning or working as I will be able to skip some classes and self medicate which will most likely be cheaper and provide more rest for myself

Public vs Private

Public
Price: Cheaper
Polyclinics are a lot cheaper where the consultation fees are about $15 and the medications are cheap.

Waiting time: Very long
One of the worst thing when you are sick is to wait and wait. For example, if you have a fever and is really sleepy, it is hard to be able to keep track of your queue number. The waiting time can be about 2h.

Private
Price: EXPENSIVE
Expensive and is dependent on the location. The ones that I visited in the past were ranged between $40 to $60. However, recently, the one that I visited near the rich people's place was $90. Just the consultation itself cost $30. It is very expensive and that price is worth about 2 days or more of my internship. If not for the need for medical leave, I would have rather taken no pay leave and sleep at home. However, there are subsidies provided but only for families that are below certain level of income per capita and my family just happened to past that threshold recently.These people are qualified to receive the blue CHAS card and will receive up to $18.50 subsidy when they visit CHAS registered clinics.

Waiting time: minimal

Hence, best case is to not fall sick causing yourself to suffer. Furthermore, it saves you time and money.