New facilities developed to meet healthcare needs

11 April 2013, Today

More healthcare infrastructure needed to handle rise in patient numbers

I refer to the report, “More doctors, nurses in public healthcare sector” (April 9).

As disclosed in Parliament, the numbers have risen by about 50 and 70 per cent respectively over the last five years. However, the corresponding increase in patient attendance was not stated.

Based on statistics from the Health Ministry, the total Accident and Emergency and outpatient attendance at specialist clinics and polyclinics rose to 9.95 million last year, up from 8.24 million in2007.

Over the same period, the number of polyclinics has remained at 18, while the number of public sector hospital beds has fallen slightly from 2001.

Although there are more healthcare professionals and improved productivity, more infrastructure isneeded to handle the increase in patient attendance.

There are always long queues and long waiting times at hospitals, specialist clinics and polyclinics.

The ministry should tackle this situation.

While more hospitals and polyclinics are indeed in the pipeline as our population grows, these facilities take years to bebuilt.

Seah Leong Khai Seah Leong Khai

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Reply from MOH

18 April 203, Today

New facilities developed to meet healthcare needs

We assure Mr Seah Leong Khai that we have been developing new facilities to meet our population’s growing healthcare needs (“More healthcare infrastructure needed to handle rise in patient numbers”; April 11).

The number of public sector acute hospital beds had in fact increased by over 600 beds with the completion of the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in 2010.

The drop pointed out by Mr Seah was due to the reclassification of extended care beds, which were subsequently transferred to the private and voluntary welfare sectors, where they continue to serve patients.

Over the next two years, the opening of new facilities will also add acute and specialist capacity to our healthcare system.

These include the 700-bed Ng Teng Fong General Hospital by next year, the 400-bed Jurong Community Hospital by 2015, as well as National University Hospital’s Medical Centre and the new National Heart Centre by July this year and 2014 respectively.

By end 2020, we would have added 4,100 acute and community hospital beds islandwide. And even as we plan for long-term needs, the Ministry of Health is working with healthcare institutions to add capacity to existing facilities.

Since 2007, some 11 polyclinics have been redeveloped to expand service capacity and enhance patient flow, with Tampines polyclinic currently undergoing renovation.

Our healthcare institutions also adopt various strategies to manage the increasing patient load and waiting times. For example, our hospitals deploy inpatient teams to emergency departments, to ensure prompt medical care even before patients are warded.

Our polyclinics have also implemented self-registration for appointment-based services such as health screenings, which enable patients to proceed directly to service points.

All these improvements not only aim to serve more patients but also to serve patients better.

Bey Mui Leng
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Health