Speeches
SPEECH BY MR TAN KIAT HOW, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MDDI & MOH, AT SINGAPORE HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT 2025
12 August 2025
Mr Cheng Wai Keung, Chairman, SingHealth,
Professor Ng Wai Hoe, Group CEO, SingHealth,
Mr Tan Jack Thian, Organising Chairman, Singapore Healthcare Management 2025,
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. I am very happy to join you here this morning at the 14th edition of the Singapore Healthcare Management (SHM) Congress 2025.
2. Since its inception in 2012, SHM has been an annual signature platform for healthcare leaders from Singapore and all over the world to come together to foster meaningful exchanges and showcase the latest advancements in healthcare management and administration.
3. This year’s three-day congress has brought together over 2,000 healthcare leaders, educators, innovators, and other professionals from the sector to address pressing challenges in value-based care delivery, digital transformation, and healthcare sustainability.
Collective Ownership in Healthcare Transformation
4. Often, when we about healthcare transformations, the spotlight falls on those at the frontlines of care delivery, and those technologies that enable healthcare improvements. The truth is that many different professionals contribute to this effort – at the frontlines and behind the scenes.
5. Behind every innovation, every process improvement to enhance care and service delivery, every successful policy rollout and delivery — there is a team of administrators making all this possible.
6. So today, I would like to thank all of you for your dedication and hard work. Please give them a round of applause.
7. And as we implement national initiatives like Healthier SG and value-driven care, your role as administrators will become more critical -
a. from integrating care across settings,
b. to harnessing data for decision-making
c. and ensuring our systems are resilient, accessible and safe
you will be essential in shaping tomorrow’s healthcare in Singapore.
Developing Future Healthcare Engineers to Transform Patient Care
8. Today, we are taking a significant step towards strengthening the talent pipeline for a crucial group of administrators – the healthcare engineers.
9. Their work in AI-assisted diagnostics, advanced medical device development, and clinical workflow optimisation enables healthcare professionals to focus on their core responsibility in patient care.
10. To support this group of healthcare engineers, SingHealth’s College of Healthcare Engineering (CHE) is launching the Healthcare Engineering Internship Programme today.
11. The structured programme will focus on Biomedical Engineering and Facilities Management, teaching engineers how to develop practical solutions for healthcare’s unique challenges.
12. Students will work on real-world projects, from integrating AI into hospital systems to developing smart medical devices. Through training and mentorship, we will develop a new generation of healthcare engineers well-equipped to meet our ecosystem’s evolving demands. Additional tracks to support Research Engineers and Clinical Innovation Engineers will also be launched in the coming months.
Building Innovation Networks for Impact
13. Through this internship programme, we are creating more than training opportunities. Given the fast-evolving developments in healthcare, including in the domain of health technology, the programme connects students with seasoned engineers and healthcare leaders during their formative years.
14. These early professional relationships help our future engineers assimilate faster into healthcare settings and take on emerging roles like clinical engineers. I am encouraged that SingHealth plans to expand this programme to more institutions, as these graduates will strengthen not just individual departments, but our wider healthcare ecosystem.
15. The Ministry of Health (MOH) will continue to support such meaningful programmes that addresses healthcare needs of our population. Through developing talent and supporting innovation, we are ensuring our healthcare sector remains responsive to the future needs of Singaporeans.
Closing
16. Over the years, SHM has evolved into a platform for learning, networking, and collaboration. And this year’s addition of the Singapore Healthcare Engineering Congress track brings focus to biomedical applications, technology commercialisation, and digital health. The congress' vibrancy is further demonstrated by over 390 innovative submissions, including new categories in "AI for Healthcare Engineering" and "Engineering in Healthcare", allowing healthcare engineers to contribute their insights and successful initiatives to the congress.
17. Meeting healthcare's evolving challenges demand continuous innovation. This requires cross-pollination of ideas - bringing together diverse skills, knowledge, and perspectives to create transformative solutions. As administrators and engineers, you are more than enablers - you are architects of tomorrow's healthcare system.
18. So I would like to end off by thanking all of you again for the work you do – often behind the scenes – but always with great purpose. I very much appreciate it.
19. I wish everyone a fruitful congress! Thank you.