All over the world, ageing populations, falling birth rates and evermore ingenious scientific methods of keeping us alive for longer are playing havoc with national economies. For hard-pressed finance ministries, the search for ways to treat and prevent illness more cheaply without sacrificing quality has ac-quired the status of a mythical quest.

William Haseltine, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, biotech entrepreneur and Aids researcher, believes he has found, if not quite the philosopher’s stone, at least a piece of policy alchemy that deserves a wider audience.

Singapore provides universal coverage and world-class results in a range of areas, such as infant mortality and increased life expectancy. It achieves this while spending less than 4 per cent of gross domestic product – about one-fifth of the proportion spent in the US and approximately half of that in the UK. Both countries in some respects can only look enviously at the quality of care Singapore offers.