Justification for charing patients at SNEC

This is a follow-up post with regards to the

previous titled 'My Reply to SNEC', where I

find it inconceivable that SNEC may be

racking up $1.44million per year for a simple

eye check lasting last than 2 mins where most

optical shops do it for free. 

SNEC clarified that their $6 charge for the

pre-consultation evaluation test includes 3

tests and performed by 2 nurses :-

i) auto-refraction

ii)non-contact tonometry

iii)visual acuity

Going by my observation, most patients only do

the visual acuity test which is to read

alphabet/number chart.This could be easily be

done by those nurses who are attached to the

consulting doctors. 

Normally there is a few minutes lapses between

each patient consultation as the doctor needs

to complete their medical case note and read

up on the next patient's medical record.The

attending nurse to the doctor could complete

the visual acuity test within that time in

the doctor’s consultation room. The set up

is simple as it just required a simple eye

chart consisting of alphabet/number.

This will reduce waiting time for patients

who have to queue in different testing rooms

before being seen by the doctor. It will

improve efficiency and cut down the number

of nurse require for the evaluation test. 

It will be interesting to know what is the

percentage of patients who undergo all the

3 tests in the first place. If the majority

of patients only do the visual acuity test,

then why make them paid for the cost

incurred by minority patients?