2023 ACJC H2 Prelims Paper 1 QP

©ACJC 2023 Preliminary Exam 9570/01 ANGLO-CHINESE JUNIOR COLLEGE 2023 JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS ECONOMICS 9570/01 Higher 2 Paper 1 22 August 2023 2 hours 30 minutes Additional materials: Writing papers and 2 cover sheets READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your exam index number and name on all the answers you hand in. Write in dark blue or black ink pen on both sides of the paper. You may use a soft pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid / tape in your answers. Answer all questions. Begin Question 2 on a fresh sheet of writing paper. At the end of the examination, arrange your answers in order. Fasten your answers for Question 1 and Question 2 separately using the cover sheets provided. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. This document consists of 8 printed pages (including this page). Please check that your question paper is complete.

2 ©ACJC 2023 Preliminary Exam 9570/01 Answer all questions. Question 1: Global Healthcare Issues Extract 1: Healthcare costs in Singapore expected to grow 9.8% in 2023 As global inflation continues and healthcare use increases, healthcare expenditure in the Lion City is expected to increase by 9.8% in 2023. Widespread inflation and increasing healthcare use are combining to drive projected increases in global healthcare cost to their highest level in nearly 15 years. Healthcare use and costs around the region will increase as nations continue to reopen their borders and loosen health restrictions. As one of the first few Asian countr ies to reopen, Singapore’s medical tourism hub also recovered with a large influx of overs eas patients seeking delayed elective treatment. The fast-ageing workforce coupled with heavier chronic disease burden remained key contributors to the rise in healthcare costs. Other contributing factors include overuse of care by insured members, as well as overtreatment or overprescribing by medical practitioners. Source: Singapore Business Review, December 2022 Extract 2: Singapore to spend more than $1 billion to get Healthier SG preventive care strategy up and running Healthier SG seeks to shift the gravity of care from the hospitals to the community. The aim is to get residents to build a long-term relationship with one family doctor, who will help them to take charge of their own health and wellness. To get the new preventive care strategy Healthier SG off the ground and running, Singapore will spend more than $1 billion over the next three to four years in set-up costs, such as new IT systems and support to get general practitioner (GP) clinics ready for the scheme. It will also spend an estimated $400 million a year on recurrent costs , such as annual health screenings for residents and the annual service fee for GPs. In making these investments, the primary motivation is to reduce the burden of disease and the suffering of people and their loved ones. The aim is to get residents to build a long-term relationship wit h one family doctor, who will help them to take charge of their own health and wellness. These investments in preventive care will take time to produce results. Any impact in people's health will not happen immediately, but perhaps be discernible eight or 10 years down th e road. Source: The Straits Times, October 2022 Extract 3: At least 8 new nursing homes in Singapore over the next 5 years Nursing homes here are expanding, with at least eight new facilities to be added in the next five years, to meet the needs of a rapidly ageing population. One in four Singapore citizens is expected to be at least 65 years old by 2030 and with a number of seniors expected to enter nursing homes, nearly 1,000 new beds will be available by the end of 2024 alone, with two major operators opening facilities next year.

3 ©ACJC 2023 Preliminary Exam 9570/01 St Andrew’s Mission Hospital will open two new nursing homes in 2024 – a 342-bed facility in Aljunied Walk, and one with 277 beds in Tampines North co-located with St Andrew’s Senior Care (Tampines North). Ren Ci will open its third nursing home in the upcoming Woodlands Health Campus in the first quarter of 2024. The 332-bed nursing home will be co-located with a senior care centre to offer rehabilitative care, and will also have staff to provide home care in the north region. The capital cost of building most new nursing homes is borne by the Ministry of Health (MOH), which then tenders out their operation to voluntary welfare organisations or private operators. Other homes to be built include:  A 302-bed nursing home in Yishun Avenue 6 run by Sree Narayana Mission by 2026. The charity will be running a third senior care centre at Bedok Reservoir R oad in August, which will serve about 300 seniors.  A 298-bed nursing home to be run by private nursing home operator Orange Vall ey and co-located with an active ageing centre in Bidadari in 2026.  New nursing homes by private operator The Lentor Residence will open in MacPherson in August, and in West Coast in the next two months. Source: The Straits Times, August 2023 Extract 4: Demand for Philippine nurses sparks bidding war amid global talent shortage The toll of nearly three years of Covid-19 includes millions of nurses br oken by punishing hours and low pay, many of whom quit the profession and left hospitals dangerously short of critical staff. With pandemic-related travel restrictions easing, countries from Germany to the United Arab Emirates and Singapore are stepping up efforts to lure foreign nurses and othe r medical professionals with promises of expedited visas and better pay. Health professionals have been migrating for decades. The US and UK have the largest number of foreign-trained nurses among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, but they are more heavily concentrated in other na tions. Before the pandemic hit, roughly one-in-four nurses in New Zealand and Switzer land had studied abroad, the highest ratio among the OECD’s 38 member states. Germany’s government said it wants to recruit 600 Filipino nurses for hospi tals and elderly care centres, offering qualified applicants free travel expenses, language training, a bonus for passing exams on the first try and help finding accommodation. Singapore and the Philippines also opened talks last month on hiring more Filipino nurses and other healthcare workers. No nation is better prepared to help the world staff up its hospitals and clinics than the Philippines, the single biggest exporter of nurses. Yet, the Philippines faces a shortfall of nursing staff, and there’s long-standing debate over whether so many local nurses should be allowed to leave. According to the Philippines Health Department, the country’s hospitals and clinics have a shortage of about 106,000 nurses. Source: SCMP, October 2022

4 ©ACJC 2023 Preliminary Exam 9570/01 Extract 5: Is South India’s Chennai Asia’s next big medical tourism hub? The state of Tamil Nadu, where Chennai is located, attracts about 40 per cent of the country’s medical tourist. Foreign patients from neighbouring countries, Africa, Mi ddle East and Southeast Asia visit the city for procedures and treatments such as cardiac bypass surgery, organ transplants, hip replacement, bone marrow transplant and eye surgeries. Medical treatment in Chennai costs significantly less than in developed countries, about one- third of costs in those nations, particularly given India’s production and access to generic drugs. Medical tourism in the country received a further boost in 2018, when the Indian government established a fund of US$641 million to improve service sectors,