Opening Speech By Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister For Health, At The Opening Of The Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress 2015, on Friday, 2 Oct 2015

OPENING SPEECH BY MR GAN KIM YONG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE OPENING OF THE SINGAPORE HEALTH & BIOMEDICAL CONGRESS 2015, AT MAX ATRIA @ SINGAPORE EXPO, ON FRIDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2015, 9.15AM

Mdm Kay Kuok, Chairman, National Healthcare Group

Professor Philip Choo, Group CEO, National Healthcare Group

Professor Jackie Ying, Executive Director, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology

Associate Professor Thomas Aretz, Vice President for Global Programs, Partners HealthCare International,

Adjunct Associate Professor Sim Kang, Chairman, Organising Committee, Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress 2015

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning.

1.           I am happy to join you here at the 13^th annual Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress (SHBC). This is an important year for Singapore as we celebrate 50 years of nation building together. I would like to take this opportunity to recognise our healthcare professionals – past and present – who have dedicated their lives towards building our nation’s world-class healthcare system. Thank you for your tireless and compassionate service to our patients.  

CURRENT SUCCESSES IN PUBLIC HEALTHCARE

2.           The Healthcare 2020 Master Plan which we rolled out a few years ago emphasises quality, accessibility and affordability in healthcare for our people.

3.           By working together, we have improved access to healthcare for all sectors of society and built an efficient system that has served the population well with good outcomes. As we move beyond 2020, we must seek to achieve higher goals such as preventing diseases or meaningfully slowing the progression of illnesses. Our system for the future also has to be equipped to tackle the complex needs of an ageing population. This includes transformational changes to enhance long term sustainability. We need to shift from hospital centric care to person centric care. The traditional model of ‘transactional medicine’ – where doctors simply diagnose and expect patients to follow instructions - is no longer adequate. To deliver person centric care, we must learn to engage and motivate individuals to make good lifestyle choices, long before they become our patients. Healthcare providers, health promotion agencies and community partners must work together hand in hand with our people to adopt healthy living as a way of life.

INNOVATE, IMPROVE and INTEGRATE  

4.           It is apt that the theme for this year’s congress is “Advancing Healthcare into the Future: Innovate, Improve, Integrate”. These words exemplify how our healthcare system must develop beyond 2020.   

5.           Our healthcare professionals should try to embody innovation, improvement and integration as much as possible. They should continue to optimise the use of healthcare technology, service planning and service delivery. In particular our healthcare professionals should participate in integrated, multidisciplinary research that translates into better clinical care. The STOP dengue research programme is one such example. Led by Prof Leo Yee Sin from the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. STOP is one of the Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Programmes that has been funded by NMRC since 2008. The research findings from this programme have helped clinicians identify the risks associated with the progression of dengue and allowed us to focus on patients who require inpatient hospital care, resulting in lower hospitalisation rates.  I hope that our healthcare professionals will continue to seek to produce translational research outcomes like Prof Leo and her team have done.

6.           Platforms such as SHBC’s Biomedical Research Symposium and Scientific Competition are a good starting point for our young medical researchers to explore new concepts and share their ideas. I am happy to note that this year’s Scientific Competition received a record 615 abstracts, a 30% increase compared to last year. I want to especially commend the efforts of the doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and administrative staff who have gone beyond their clinical work to conduct research for the betterment of their patients. For the first time, all accepted abstracts will be presented at the Poster Village on Level 2, so please take some time to check them out.

7.           Given the importance of predictive and preventive healthcare, NHG will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, to establish a joint research programme titled Predictive and Preventive: Better Health at Affordable Cost. The MOU provides a framework and infrastructure for clinician-scientists. Early initiatives include population cohort studies on chronic diseases, as well as mental and social issues. These represent the first steps towards more in-depth understanding of disease phenotypes and factors including physical, mental and social gaps that have to be addressed moving forward. The project will also be supported by experts from the Imperial College London.

8.           As part of innovation, improvement and integration, we must look further upstream of the healthcare supply chain to align our healthcare services with our population’s evolving needs. This can be done through predictive analytics, where technology and statistical methods are utilised to interrogate huge amounts of information to identify patterns and trends. We will potentially be able to make more accurate diagnoses, prescribe more appropriate medication and ensure better patient outcomes. Predictive analytics can also help identify associations that we may have otherwise missed[1].  For example, when applied to the study of genes, big data analytics can help identify at-risk patients for early intervention, adding a new dimension to our preventive healthcare efforts like health screening and public education.

9.           However, at the same time that we make large leaps forward in medical research and innovation, it is important to remember that beyond the hardware of healthcare, we must always safeguard the interest of our patients.  Parliament recently passed the new Human Biomedical Research Act to address the ethical, legal and social effects of biomedical research and to ensure the safety and welfare of all patients who participate in innovative biomedical research. Research in biomedical sciences has led to important advances in knowledge and technology that have improved the health, life expectancy and quality of life of our people. However, medical research needs to be underpinned by strong ethics governance and protection for our patients. Ultimately, we must remember that research is to help all of us achieve healthier and happier lives.

10.       If you remember the adage – ‘it takes a village to raise a child’- it is so in healthcare too. We can empower our patients and families in the community to nurture a ‘kampung spirit’ of mutual care and support. Through the six Regional Health Systems, we can build an ecosystem of social and healthcare partners and create a robust, integrated network that can help our citizens live well and stay well for longer in the community.

11.       In closing, I would like to extend my thanks to the Organising Committee for putting together yet another exciting conference. To all delegates, I wish you a fruitful and engaging experience.

Thank you.

[1] http://www.elsevier.com/connect/seven-ways-predictive-analytics-can-improve-healthcare