Priorities

Recently Siti took a taxi ride and she got caught in a traffic jam. She commented that there were so many cars in Singapore and that despite the hefty disincentives to own and use a car, Singaporeans seem undeterred, spending vast amounts of money indulging in this luxury.

To her surprise, her taxi driver, who was recently retrenched, revealed that he was driving a taxi in order to afford such a luxury - his car!

This reminded me of a patient from some time back, who decided not to fix his teeth because he chose to go on a one month vacation touring the whole of China instead.

This begs the question as to whether health is a necessity or is it a discretionary expenditure.