Healthcare Group to Help Improve Healthcare Services for Singaporeans

14 Aug 2006

Minister of State (Health) Mr Heng Chee How will lead an ad-hoc Healthcare Group of MPs to examine the current healthcare delivery system and to suggest ideas on how it can be further strengthened to ensure that it remains cost-effective in the future.  The Healthcare Group (HCG) comprises 5 Members of Parliament with strong interest in healthcare: Mdm Halimah Yacob, Dr Lam Pin Min, Dr Fatimah Lateef, Mr Sam Tan and Mrs Josephine Teo.

With a new Parliament, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is reviewing its existing strategies and programmes, with a view to formulating new priorities for the next 5 years. This is being done at several levels, involving healthcare professionals, administrators, experts and stakeholders from public, private and people sectors. 

HCG will provide another level of significant inputs for the MOH. The Group will work closely with the Ministry to reach out to Singaporeans, to better understand their perspectives, and to identify areas and propose new initiatives for further improvement. Their inputs will help shape the MOH component of the Presidential Addendum.

The Group will study how Singaporeans can be further encouraged to lead a healthy life, thus avoiding unnecessary healthcare cost. It will also examine how citizens can continue to have access to good-quality healthcare at the out-patient, in-patient and step-down care stages, and be able to pay for it. The Group will consider the needs at each stage from the perspectives of different income groups, and recommend measures to meet them, especially for lower and middle income Singaporeans. The Group will also examine current financing policies (Medisave, MediShield and Medifund) and the role of individuals and their families, insurance, employers, healthcare providers and the Government in managing healthcare expenditure. Another priority of the Group is Eldershield reform to better target it to meet the needs of our aging population.

"The Government knows that Singaporeans want to feel confident about their ability to pay for good healthcare.  Achieving this outcome calls for the concerted and sustained efforts of individuals, their families, insurance, employers, healthcare providers and Government.  We will look for practical ways to help make this possible." said Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of State for Health.

The Group will also look into emerging priorities for MOH, such as the management of long-term chronic diseases, mental health, and health promotion. 

A series of dialogue sessions have been arranged for the Group to gather feedback and ideas from the public as well as the medical community. Thus far, the Group has conducted 8 sessions involving Singaporeans with different experiences in our healthcare system. The sessions have been very useful in understanding Singaporeans'concerns with our healthcare policies.