Continuation of Essential Healthcare Services During Period of Heightened Safe Distancing Measures

               The Multi-Ministry Taskforce has announced an elevated set of safe distancing measures as a circuit breaker to pre-empt the trend of increasing local transmission of COVID-19. These will be in place for four weeks (i.e. two incubation cycles) from 7 April 2020 until 4 May 2020 (inclusive). Essential services, including healthcare, will continue to operate during this period.

Healthcare Services

2.         All public and private acute hospitals (including offsite specialist clinics and offsite Ambulatory Surgical Centres), community hospitals, polyclinics, Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs), and renal dialysis centres will remain open for the delivery of essential services.[1]

3.         Non-PHPC General Practitioner (GP) clinics, specialist clinics, dental clinics, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinics may remain open only for the delivery of essential services. All non-essential appointments should be deferred, and any on-site staffing kept to a minimum.

4.         Where possible, services that are suitable for tele-consultation should be delivered remotely. Examples of essential and non-essential face-to-face services are found in Annex A.

5.         Supporting services such as ambulance and patient transport, blood services, laboratories and radiological services, quarantine and isolation operations, and border health operations will continue operations. Essential supply chains required to provide the essential healthcare services should also continue operations.

Community Care Services 6.         Residential and home-based community care services such as nursing homes, psychiatric rehabilitation homes, psychiatric sheltered homes, inpatient palliative care, home medical, home nursing, home palliative care, interim caregiver service, and meals delivery services will continue to function.

7.       Home personal care will be scaled down to serve only seniors with inadequate family support, for example, where caregivers are essential workers. Home therapy (except by tele-consult) and Medical Escort and Transport service will also be suspended.

8.       Senior care centres, day rehab centres, psychiatric rehabilitation centres, and day hospices will be closed. Selected centres will remain open to support those with inadequate family support, as well as intensive care needs. Such seniors can also be supported with home care services including meals delivery if needed.

9.        See Annex B for the status of community care services during this period. MOH and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) will provide further information separately to community care providers.

Blood Donation10.      Blood donation services will remain in operation, and residents are encouraged to continue donating blood during this period. As part of the additional precautions put in place for safe distancing, donors are highly encouraged to make appointments for their blood donations. Please visit HSA's website for more information: https://www.hsa.gov.sg/blood-donation.

[1] Essential services/ procedures refer to those, if not provided or performed, would result in significant or rapid deterioration of the patient’s medical condition, and potentially threaten their health and wellbeing.