Bought CoaguChek XS Meter for Wife

Earlier on the staff at NUH gave me the contact for their vendor who sells the device, today I contacted them and then went down to their office located at Aperia Tower 1 @ 8 Kallang Avenue (339509) and bought it at $1070 after GST. The box comes with the device, a lancet and a pack of needles.

The company name is Roche, seems like they are specialised in all sorts of medical devices like the diabetics test kit and etc.

Anyway I paid cash, they accept credit card and nets but cannot connect so I walked over to Lavendar MRT to withdraw cash, lucky not too far away, funny the building is so big and they don't have a POSB/DBS ATM.

CoaguCheck XS Meter

The purpose of this device is to measure the INR level of people who are on Warfarin and it didn't take me long to decide to buy, the convenience it brings is significant, I think maybe still cheaper than checking at polyclinic or hospital.

And before we can use this, we need to buy the test strip, see the white piece sticking out below, that's the one. One piece is $10.

So let's say we check at polyclinic, they require you to see doctor before they can check for you so have to pay doctor consultation too, one test costs:

• Consultation for PR is $21.
• INR test for PR is $9.40.
• Bus to and fro is 2x$0.79=$1.58.
• Total is $31.98.
• Note that the pricing is based on the last time my wife visited the polyclinic in Nov 2014.

Let's say every month check once, one year will cost $383.76 and subjected to rising medical costs. And also have to consider the waiting time for bus, waiting time to see doctor, waiting time to check blood, and waiting time to go back to see doctor after blood test, one trip to and fro may take 3 to 4 hours depending on the crowd at the polyclinic, that's a lot of time wasted.

And if we check at NUH instead, no need to see doctor, just go and check blood, one test is $16, sometimes they may order another test which is $12, total can be $28, the transport to and fro is $20 for taxi, so total can be up to $48, like that even more expensive, but probably faster because no need to wait for doctor, but then have to wait to check blood, time cost probably 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

But with this test kit, one test takes less than 5 minutes, all in the comfort of our home, no travelling and I don't need to worry about my wife bringing the baby around, not easy for her as she is breastfeeding. I think for people who is on life-long Warfarin, this device can really make life so much easier, it can be considered a necessity.