Why don’t people go for health screening?

My cousin was telling me the other day that she was trying in vain to get her father to go for health screening. Her father said that he would rather not go for health screening in case the doctor detects something abnormal and he has to spend money to treat it.

This man does not realize that the purpose of health screening is to detect the dreaded condition so that it could be treated early. Treatment for a condition is usually less expensive when it is diagnosed earlier. He may have to spend more money later if the condition is discovered in the advance stage. In fact the greatest price to pay for not doing health screening is untimely death when the condition becomes incurable.

There are many reasons why people do not go for health screening. Among the top reasons cited for not going for health screening were “not necessary as I am healthy”, “no time to go for health screening” and “too expensive”.
Only 83% of Singapore residents aged 50 years and above felt that it was important to go for health screening once a year. (National Health Survey Surveillance Survey 2001)

62% of Singapore residents did not know that they had diabetes and 53% had undiagnosed hypertension (National Health Survey 1998).

(Source of statistic: HPB Website)