As the government had promised to keep increases small, the hospitals say they have upped their rates judiciously.

Subsidised patients in B2- and C-class wards now pay between $1 and $5 more a day.

This brings the daily charges in C-class wards to between $25 and $29, and those in B2, to between $50 and $61.

Patients in A-class wards bear the biggest increases. The A1-class charges at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), for example, are now between $26.75 and $30 more a day.

The increases at Alexandra Hospital (AH), Changi General Hospital, KK Women's and Children's Hospital and SGH took effect at the beginning of July. Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National University Hospital (NUH) raised their fees this month.

An NUH spokesman said that the hospital has not escaped inflationary pressures, and periodic reviews of fees were inevitable.

An SGH spokesman said that the hospital had held off increasing ward charges for 14 years until April last year, despite an annual rise in operating expenses.

The hospitals said they had tried to keep costs for patients low by reducing the length of their stay and by bulk-buying drugs and other items.

Price adjustments were the last resort, they said.

All said they would continue to help needy patients through MediFund and other assistance schemes available.