National Healthcare Group's Annual Scientific Congress 2006

30 Sep 2006

By Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of State for Health

Venue: Raffles City Convention Centre

Mr Michael Lim, Chairman, National Healthcare Group

Dr Lim Suet Wun, Chief Executive Officer, National Healthcare Group

Dr Kenneth Mak, Chairperson of the Organising Committee

Dr Chong Phui-Nah, Co-chairperson of the Organising Committee

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

I am delighted to join you at this opening ceremony for the National Healthcare Group's Annual Scientific Congress 2006. I understand that this is the fifth consecutive year that this congress is being held, and I congratulate the organisers on your success in convening this important healthcare and scientific meeting in Singapore.

Modern Epidemics and Research

"Healthcare at the Crossroads - Medicine in the Era of Modern Epidemics" is a very appropriate theme for this scientific congress. Recent epidemics like the SARS epidemic, dengue fever outbreaks, and the lingering threat of a bird flu pandemic serve to remind us of the vulnerability of public health today. Therefore, we need to speed up our search for better diagnostic kits, vaccines and treatments and ensure that our public health responses are prompt and adequate. There is also an increasing realisation that HIV, cancer and chronic diseases may add a new wave of epidemics that can threaten our populations and strain our healthcare systems. We must therefore enhance the resilience and vigilance of our populations and the capabilities of our healthcare system by promoting healthy lifestyles and habits, and by seeking more effective drugs, new surgical techniques, and new ways to better deliver and coordinate medical care.

There has never been a more crucial time for biomedical research than in today's world of modern epidemics. This meeting represents the crossroads of healthcare, where biomedical research is no more just an activity on the sidelines, but a necessity for us so that healthcare delivery systems are strengthened and patient outcomes are improved on.

Translating Research Into Quality Patient Care

For any hospital or healthcare delivery system in the world to achieve clinical excellence, a strong commitment to healthcare research is critical. I am glad that both healthcare clusters in Singapore strongly support the Government's aim to further develop translational and clinical research.

I understand that on NHG's part they have named its research web portal "B2B Research", an acronym for "Bench to Bedside Research". "Bench to Bedside" accurately connotes the importance of translating basic research into quality patient care. Conducting research and the creation of new knowledge are important activities. While publications are important for the sharing of this new knowledge, they should not be the end-points. Instead, we should encourage evidence-based outcomes arising from such new research that will then allow for patient care to be ever better and safer. I am pleased that NHG has adopted a three-year, three-pronged strategic direction for research starting from 2006 to emphasise translational research, invest in research manpower development, enhance research quality as well as to protect their research participants.

Besides direct patient care, we should also build up research capabilities to evaluate health care services and outcomes. This will enable us to understand the effectiveness of the care we deliver to our patients and how various healthcare resources can be best deployed to ensure that the most appropriate care is provided to each patient.

Enabling Research In Singapore

This new paradigm in medical research in Singapore requires a meeting of minds. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you several important initiatives that the government has mapped out to enable research.

Firstly, our research community must be supported. The government aims to invest $1.4 billion in medical and health research over the next five years. These funds will be used to develop research programmes, core infrastructure and research manpower. The Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) and the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) are being restructured in line with this next phase of growth in the biosciences. The aim is to increase the translational and clinical research capabilities of the public hospitals, research institutions and medical researchers.

To facilitate this important work, new leadership appointments have been made. Professor Edward Holmes, renowned in medical research will hold concurrent top posts in both the A*STAR BMRC and NMRC to ensure better coordination between the scientific and medical community with effect from tomorrow. As the Executive Deputy Chairman of BMRC and Executive Chairman of NMRC, Prof Holmes will work closely with the hospitals to develop the framework needed to support clinician scientists and clinician investigators.

Key initiatives that are currently being planned include cultivating manpower in research and building research capabilities. Over the next five years, we will build up a sufficient pool of quality clinician scientists and clinician investigators and develop a sustainable long-term pipeline of research manpower. We will also be strengthening our capabilities in investigational medicine, such as new therapies or new uses of standard therapies, through greater collaborations between A*STAR research institutes, universities and the hospitals. Indeed, research should be collaborative. We need to form multiple and wider bridges between our academic universities, research institutes, industry partners and the healthcare clusters. Biomedical research is not the sole purview of any one of these institutions but a shared responsibility and a joint commitment.

As an engine to foster collaborations in research, we will also promote "vertical" flagship disease-oriented research programmes. These are "all-the-way" translational and clinical research programmes that will leverage on best strengths amongst the various institutions involved in research in Singapore. With this objective in mind, we have launched the call for proposals for The STaR (Singapore Translation Research) Investigatorship Awards and Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship programmes. The research programmes will be oriented around strategic disease areas (such as cancer, infectious disease, cardiovascular, neurosciences and eye disease) with the purpose to integrate, strengthen and coordinate the full chain of research capabilities in that disease area from basic science to clinical research.

Along with the above initiatives, we will also develop resources to support high-quality translational research, such as enhancing tissue networks, disease registries, data privacy frameworks and provision of institutional overheads for research.

Last but not least, research must abide by high standards of ethics and quality. We will strengthen our ethical and regulatory framework to ensure that the necessary platform is provided for research to be conducted safely for participants, and for research to produce scientific data that is valuable. 

Conclusion

I am confident that even as we embark on the next phase of medical research in Singapore, we have taken the right approach by ensuring that our strategies are well-resourced, focused and accountable.  NHG will have a big role to play in this important endeavour. On this note, I wish you all a most fruitful and enjoyable congress.