The Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) would like to update the public on the voluntary recall of Panvax® Junior H1N1 vaccine (CSL Limited) in Singapore with immediate effect. The recall is a precautionary measure taken as a result of the findings by the Australia Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on the decline in the potency of this product in Australia based on ongoing stability tests.

The number of HFMD cases has continued to increase with 906 cases notified in the week ending 7 August 2010. This brings the total number of notified HFMD cases to 18,007 in the first 31 weeks of this year as compared with 10,770 cases in the same period last year.

Three exemplary and outstanding nurses will receive the President’s Award for Nurses at the Nurses Day Istana Reception on 29 July 2010. This yearly National Award for nurses will be given by President S R Nathan in recognition for their commitment, professionalism and dedication to excellent nursing care.

The public healthcare clusters are launching a pre-employment grant (PEG) to assist Singaporean medical students studying overseas during their final two years of study. The students will receive financial assistance in their tuition fees, assured employment, and opportunities for post-graduate specialist training under the residency programme, in return for a commitment to serve the clusters for up to 4 years. The PEG will be an additional talent recruitment measure of the clusters to attract more doctors from overseas to supplement the local pipeline of doctors.

With the decline of the H1N1 pandemic and the relatively calm health environment in the region, health ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea focused on longer-term healthcare challenges facing the region at the 10th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting and related meetings . The Ministers discussed ways to manage the twin burden of chronic diseases and emerging infectious diseases while keeping healthcare affordable for its population. They agreed to further promote regional cooperation and collaboration to achieve the objectives of “Healthy People, Healthy Region”.

Every other year, an ASEAN Health Minister will host a meeting among the ASEAN counterparts; followed by an ASEAN + 3  Health Ministers Meeting and an ASEAN - China Health Minister Meeting. It will be Singapore’s turn to host the 10th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting (AHMM), the 4th ASEAN + 3 and the 3rd ASEAN - China Health Ministers Meetings. The meetings will be held from 22–23 July, 2010 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. More than 100 health officials from the region will be participating.

Nine outstanding healthcare professionals, consisting of eight doctors and a nurse, were the recipients of the annual National Medical Excellence Awards (NMEA) at the awards dinner held on 29 June 2010. In its third year, the NMEA is a national level award given out by the Ministry of Health that recognizes exceptional individuals and teams who have shown outstanding achievements and excellence in medicine, clinical research, clinical quality, training and mentorship. The distinguished recipients come from a wide array of disciplines such as nephrology, neonatology, ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology and emergency medicine.

The contract to implement Phase 1 of Singapore’s National Electronic Health Record has been awarded to an Accenture consortia, with target roll-out of the NEHR in April 2011.

Singaporeans enjoy a high level of health.  Our infant mortality, at about 2 deaths in 1,000 infants under 1 year of age, is amongst the lowest in the world.  Our life expectancy at birth has over the past 40 years, increased by 15 years from 66 years in 1970 to 81 years today, among the highest in the world.

Six clinician scientists have been awarded a total of S$5.3 million under the Clinician Scientist Awards (CSAs) to conduct cutting-edge translational and clinical research in the areas of cardiology, oncology and infectious disease. The CSAs are an important part of Singapore’s Biomedical Sciences initiative to train and build up internationally competitive research talent to take scientific discoveries at the bench and translate them into meaningful healthcare outcomes.

We have sufficient doses of H1N1-2009 vaccine available for those who wish to be vaccinated. The vaccine is recommended especially for persons who have risk factors such as asthma, diabetes, gross obesity, low immunity or those who are pregnant, which put them at higher risk of developing complications. It is also recommended for persons between the ages of 6 months to 5 years and those above 65 years of age.

From 1 June 2010, patients at community hospitals and day rehabilitation centres will enjoy more out-of-pocket savings with higher Medisave withdrawal limits for their treatments.

Young Singaporeans will be given the chance to express their views on one of society’s most emotional topics – human organ donation – through a new film short competition organised by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

In 2009, another 463 Singapore residents  were newly reported with HIV infection.  About 90% of the new cases were males and 10% were females. . This brings the total number of HIV infected Singaporeans to 4,404 as of end 2009.  As at 31 Dec 2009, 2,089 persons are asymptomatic carriers, 1,037 have AIDS-related illnesses and 1,278 have died.

Nearly 8 out of 10 patients (76%) expressed overall satisfaction at public healthcare institutions. This is an improvement of 2 percentage points as compared to 2008, thus reversing a dip experienced that year.

24 March is World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. The World Health Organisation’s theme for this year is “On the move against tuberculosis: Innovate to accelerate action”. On this day, we will join hands with all other countries to raise public awareness in the global fight against TB.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) would like to alert consumers to the presence of a toxic chemical found in a broad bean seed squeeze toy, “Extrusion Bean” (refer to Annex). The toy may be the cause of a recent spate of mass vomiting involving 17 primary six students at Ai Tong School.

 The Ministry of Health will be conducting the National Health Survey 2010 fieldwork between March and June 2010. Invitation letters will be sent to 7,500 Singaporeans to participate in the Survey. The invited individuals were randomly selected from household members identified in some 17,000 household units in an enumeration exercise conducted earlier from November 2009 to January 2010.

With immediate effect, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has revised the Influenza A (H1N1) flu alert status from Yellow to Green.

From 1 March 2010, Singapore residents will be able to use their Medisave to help pay for their hospitalisation overseas under certain conditions.

Citizens, Permanent Residents (PRs) and foreigners are charged differently for healthcare services.

2. Citizens enjoy heavy subsidy in Class B2 and C wards.  PRs receive significant subsidy while foreigners are not subsidised at all.  The subsidy distinction reflects the privileges of citizenship, but there is scope for refinement.

From 1 February 2010, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will extend Medifund assistance to needy Singaporeans who require HIV treatment, including medications. MOH will inject $8.5 mil of Medifund to the hospitals to support this extension.

The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has issued an alert on the recall of a soy milk product, Bonsoy Soy Milk (1 Litre), due to the presence of unusually high levels of iodine in this product, which has been linked to cases of Thyrotoxicosis. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has conducted tests on the similar Bonsoy soy milk products that have been imported into Singapore and confirmed similarly high levels (32.6ppm) of iodine in these products. AVA has therefore required the importer and retailers to recall the implicated product from the market.