SPEECH BY MR MASAGOS ZULKIFLI, SECOND MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY DEBATE 2025, ON FRIDAY 7 MARCH 2025

Mr Chairman

             Supporting the health and well-being of every Singaporean continues to be our approach to achieve a healthier nation and a more sustainable healthcare system. Our approach spans all life stages, and today I will share our initiatives to support both the health of our children and seniors.

Starting Early for Better Health

2.             Last year, we announced the completion of the Child and Maternal Health and Well-being Strategy and Action Plan that is applicable to children, adolescents and their families. 48 new initiatives to support children and mothers were recommended, especially for vulnerable and at-risk groups. To date, 38 initiatives have been implemented.

3.            We have sought to do more. There is compelling evidence showing that poor lifestyle behaviours in childhood can impact children’s health and development, making early adoption of healthy habits crucial for their long-term health. This is why MOH, MOE and MSF launched Grow Well SG in January, a new population health effort to help children and families inculcate healthy lifestyles, with a stronger focus on preventive care, targeting children below 12 for a start. 

4.            Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant asked about how Grow Well SG has been received thus far. I am happy to share that it has been well-received. Many welcome this timely move to improve child health, especially MOH’s updated screen use guidance and refined practices on screen use management in preschools, primary and secondary schools.

5.            We agree with Dr Wan Rizal and Mr Neil to reinforce families with practical resources and tools to support their children in building healthy habits, including good screen use habits to improve their physical, mental and digital well-being. 

6.            With work and family commitments, it can be difficult for parents to wean children off screens. We have therefore lined up tips and best practices to strengthen digital wellness efforts on various platforms such as the Parent Hub website, MOE Parents’ Gateway, and MSF’s Families for Life parenting programmes. The Parenting for Wellness initiative is one example of the support available to families shared by MOE earlier. We strongly encourage parents to adopt these strategies and actively foster healthy habits in their children.

7.            We will continue to work with preschools, schools, healthcare institutions and the community to educate and support families and children in reinforcing healthy habits. Two initiatives announced earlier are the Health Plan and Childhood Health Behaviours Checklist.

Personalised Health Plans

8.            In January, we introduced personalised Health Plans with lifestyle prescriptions for Primary 1 to 3 students. I am happy to share that since its launch, 22,000 students have been given their Health Plan as of end-February. We are on track to roll out Health Plans to all Primary 1 to 3 students by end-2025.

9.            Azizan, the son of Ms Nurhaslinda Wati, is one Primary 3 student who has benefited. The Health Plan motivated Azizan to continue his practice of healthy habits and taught him other interesting health tips. During the lifestyle discussion, Azizan was advised to continue his daily practice of choosing water as his preferred drink.

10.         The lifestyle prescription played a pivotal role in encouraging Ms Nurhaslinda Wati to proactively work with Azizan to achieve his daily goal of choosing water over sugary drinks. Their experience highlights how parents can engage their children to improve their health.

11.          Dr Wan Rizal and Mr Neil also asked about our future plans for Grow Well SG. Parents will be excited to know that the Health Plans will be expanded to Primary 4 and 5 students. As the needs of upper primary students differ from those in lower primary, we will pilot this with some students this year to allow for calibration of the Health Plans and resources before full implementation in 2026.

Childhood Health Behaviours Checklist

12.         Beyond schools, we are rolling out the Childhood Health Behaviours Checklist, CHBC in short, at Childhood Developmental Screening visits for children up to 6 years at all polyclinics, General Practitioners and paediatric clinics from 2 May 2025.

13.         Parents are encouraged to complete the checklist before or during visits. This will allow them to discuss their child’s health behaviours on screen use, sleep, physical activity and nutrition with the healthcare professionals, and plan positive lifestyle changes at home. Parents can also benefit from the resources on the recommended lifestyle behaviours via the weblinks and QR codes on each checklist.

14.         The CHBC aims to encourage families to build healthy daily habits from young, and will complement the personalised Health Plans children receive in primary schools. We hope parents will tap on the Health Plans and CHBC to build and sustain healthy habits in children from birth through schooling years. These small, consistent efforts can make a difference to your child’s health over time. 

Supporting All Seniors to Age Well

15.         Apart from growing well, it is equally important to help our seniors age well in their communities.

16.         Ms Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim asked about the initiatives to promote healthy ageing. Our national programme, Age Well SG, was rolled out to support our seniors, including older women. $3.5 billion has been set aside over the next decade for this.

Encouraging Active Ageing and Senior Volunteerism

17.         A key part of Age Well SG is our Active Ageing Centres (AACs). By the end of this month, we would have set up 223 centres, up from 154 when the scheme was announced. We are devoting more resources to each centre, setting up more and working with MND to locate them close to seniors’ homes. This includes private estates which Ms Ng Ling Ling has asked about, so that they can better reach out to seniors, and organise more and better activities.

18.         Beyond this, more seniors are volunteering as Silver Guardians at AACs. To date, we have more than 1,400 Silver Guardians volunteering at the AACs and are one step closer to achieving our goal of 2,400 Silver Guardians by 2028.

19.         Let us continue to make each AAC a vibrant hub for our seniors to gather with their friends, volunteer, keep active, and stay healthy.

Improvements to the Living Environment

20.         Our infrastructure has also been enhanced to make our flats, neighbourhoods and streets more senior-friendly, with various initiatives updated by MND and MOT. One example is the Community Care Apartment (CCA).  We have completed our first CCA, Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok, and are building more over the next few years. 

21.         One resident at Harmony Village is Mdm Chia. After her husband passed away, she wanted to live in a place where she could retain her independence while receiving care support. This led her to choose the CCA. Today, Mdm Chia is thriving at Harmony Village. She made many new friends, developed a close relationship with the Community Manager, and actively participates in the activities such as morning exercises, karaoke and communal lunches organised at the CCA. Mdm Chia’s care needs are also taken care of by the Shared Caregiving Services package, an optional care service designed to support elderly residents who require help with activities of daily living.

22.         I am happy that seniors like Mdm Chia found the CCA to be a home that caters to her needs, allowing her to age confidently and gracefully in the community.

Strengthening Care Support in the Community

23.         Ms Ng Ling Ling and Mr Yip Hon Weng asked about the plans for Shared Stay-in Senior Care Services Sandbox. Since its launch, over 200 seniors have enrolled in this service. The service has been well received by families, who play a key role in the caregiving journey by partnering providers in making caregiving decisions for their loved ones. Seniors are also glad that they are able to age with peace of mind as their caregiving needs are taken care of round-the-clock.

24.         I am happy to announce that we will mainstream this service. The sandbox phase will be ended, and we will continue supporting existing providers with work pass flexibilities while bringing new providers on board. To better support providers, families and seniors, we will work with industry providers to formulate and publish a guide on the recommended good practices when providing or seeking such a service.

25.         This service will not be licensed, as it provides caregiving support similar to how family members would care for their loved ones at home. Interested companies can look forward to the application details and good practice guide from second half of 2025 onwards.

26.         We welcome all providers to work with us on similar innovative care models to support ageing-in-place. This complements existing options to provide care at home through video consults or home visits by healthcare providers, as raised by Dr Tan Wu Meng.

27.         Beyond innovative care models, we support the adoption of automation and technology solutions to increase productivity in the long-term care sector, as raised by Ms Ng Ling Ling. The Productivity and Digitalisation Grant, launched in 2022, is one such example which has supported more than 200 projects across this sector, benefitting 48 community care organisations thus far.

28.         As pointed out by Mr Xie Yao Quan, it is also important to ensure the quality of our long-term care service. This is why we support providers to develop skilled manpower through a structured skills standards framework and subsidised training.

29.         We agree with Dr Tan Wu Meng that care coordination is important to deliver good care. This is why we are introducing the Integrated Community Care Provider, or ICCP. The ICCP has three key functions:

a.    First, it is a dedicated point of contact for seniors, and coordinates care among providers to provide long term care services such as active ageing and befriending, day care, rehabilitation, and personal care support for activities of daily living.

b.    Second, it allows seniors to receive a standardised care assessment for their long-term care needs.

c.    Lastly, it develops one holistic long term care plan for more coordinated delivery across services.

30.         To implement this, we have divided Singapore into 85 sub-regions, with each sub-region having a dedicated ICCP appointed. For sub-regions with existing providers, we will facilitate partnerships. In other sub-regions, we have launched the process to select new ICCPs and will appoint them this year.

31.         This year, providers in several sub-regions will start providing joint programmes across their AACs. Seniors with multiple care needs will also be seamlessly linked up across care partners in the same sub-region.

32.         By end-2026, all seniors requiring long-term care services can progressively look forward to receiving the standardised care assessment and holistic long term care plan coordinated across services.

Ensuring Affordability of Long-Term Care

33.         We agree with Mr Yip Hon Weng that a key concern our seniors have when it comes to ageing well is their ability to afford long-term care services when they need these.

34.         The Prime Minister announced significant increases to long-term care subsidies and grants at Budget to support seniors and their families, which Minister Ong has just explained. Beyond these, we also have CareShield Life, our national long-term care insurance scheme that provides monthly cash payouts to policyholders who face severe disability.

35.         The scheme has not been reviewed since it was first launched in 2020. Long-term care costs have since risen, and we need to ensure that the payouts continue to provide meaningful support. Therefore, the CareShield Life Council was asked to review the scheme.  We will share more details in the second half of 2025 once the Council has completed its review.

Closing

36.         Mr Chairman, in closing, we remain committed to provide the support needed for all Singaporeans. Together, we can build a society where every Singaporean can grow, develop and age well, to enjoy a life of health and well-being. Thank you.