SPEECH BY MR TAN KIAT HOW, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION & MINISTRY OF HEALTH, AT THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY DEBATE 2026, ON 5 MARCH 2026

                    Sir, as shared by Minister Ong with this house earlier, welcome to super-aged Singapore.

2.            This trend will accelerate.

a. By 2030, 1 in 4 Singaporeans will be 65 years and older, and 1 in 4 of them will be aged 80 and above.

b. Within the next decade, by 2040, 1 in 3 seniors will be aged 80 and above.

3.            Seniors will likely need more support. For example, seniors use eight times the amount of hospital care than those who are younger. 

4.            So, I agree with many Members who spoke on the implications.

a. First, to caregivers. Today, it is not uncommon to see a working adult supporting elderly parents in their late 60s, who are in turn taking care of their parents in their late 80s! I certainly see many of such families in my constituency. With family size continuing to shrink, the burden on caregivers will only get heavier.  

b. Secondly, there will be increasing pressure on the healthcare system. If half of our seniors have at least one chronic disease, we will have to care for close to half a million of them in 2030, up from about 400,000 of them last year.

5.             That is why we want our seniors to remain healthy for as long as possible. As Minister said, it is not just about living longer – but also living healthier for longer.

6.             Today I will outline how we are doing so, with technology as an enabler:

a. First, getting seniors to age well in the community.

b. Second, wrapping care around them.

c. Third, supporting healthcare providers to deliver better outcomes. 

Supporting Seniors to Age Well in the Community

7.            As pointed out by a number of Members, many seniors face social isolation. A study has estimated that this risk is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day!

8.            Members would be familiar with the Silver Generation Office, or SGO. Since 2022, SGO has started preventive health visits, engaged more than 600,000 seniors, and connected those with needs to services like Active Ageing Centres, or AACs, Senior Care Centres, or SCCs, and community mental health services.

9.            Recognising that younger seniors are more digitally savvy, SGO is reaching out to this group through the LifeSG app. Since December last year, over 3,000 seniors have received personalised recommendations on services useful to them. For seniors who have not yet availed themselves to this application and these services, please check out the LifeSG app.

10.           We have also grown the AAC network from 154 centres to over 230 over the last two years, now serving around 100,000 seniors.

11.            More than 150 SCCs provide day care services, including for those with dementia, and respite care, and over 90 community outreach and intervention teams offer psychosocial support.

12.            We will continue to expand these services.

13.            Mr Ng Chee Meng, Mr Yip Hon Weng and Mr Fadli Fawzi spoke up for caregivers and referenced what other countries are doing to recognise and support caregivers.

14.            Like Members, we believe that caregivers play a vital role and we are doing more to support them.

15.            We are enhancing long-term care subsidies and grants.

a. This year, we will raise the per capita household income, or PCHI, threshold from $3,600 to $4,800. This will cover about 7 in 10 households.

b. I would like to assure Mr Ng Chee Meng and Ms Mariam Jaafar that these subsidies are not dependent on the number of Activities of Daily Living needs, or ADLs. 

16.           Last year, caregivers of over 14,000 seniors benefitted from subsidised home and centre-based respite services. We will do more.

a. From 1st April, more than 5,600 eligible seniors and their caregivers can benefit from the enhanced Home Personal Care, or HPC+ service, featuring home-based respite care, medication reminders and 24/7 technology-enabled monitoring for fall detection and incident reporting. 

17.            Members also spoke about caregivers who are juggling work and care. We empathise with their challenges. Support is available through various Ministries’ effort.

a. For example, Flexible Work Arrangements, and the Caregivers Training Grant which helps to offset costs for training family caregivers and Migrant Domestic Workers.

b. Eligible caregivers can also tap on enhanced parental leave provisions, such as the new Shared Parental Leave and Unpaid Infant Care Leave.

c. We will continue to study Members’ suggestions as we explore ways to better support our caregivers.

18.            Mr Victor Lye spoke about the unintended consequences of relying on PCHI to assess the caregiving circumstances of families. I appreciate his concerns.

a. The PCHI means-testing approach was discussed at the Budget debate last week.

b. MOH takes reference from this framework. However, individuals in difficult circumstances who require additional support can approach our medical social workers.

c.  Mr Lye gave a few suggestions on how we can improve the current framework. MOH will study his suggestions with the Ministry of Finance.

19.            Mr Terence Ho and Mr Eric Chua advocated for seniors to contribute to the community, including helping fellow seniors. I agree. Such involvement gives our seniors a sense of purpose. 

20.             Seniors can tap on volunteering opportunities, with some organisations providing training and allowances.

21.            For example, as Silver Generation Ambassadors, they help conduct outreach to other seniors. Seniors can also join the SG Healthcare Corps to assist with basic patient care.

22.            Those aged 50 and above comprise 20% to 40% of volunteers across these programmes, and we welcome more partners to join this effort.

23.            Let me turn to the topic of end-of-life. I agree with Mr Yip’s point that we want our seniors to “leave well”, or as the Chinese say “安然离去”.

24.            Since 2023, we have significantly expanded community palliative care services, enhanced subsidies, and facilitated hospital discharges at the end-of-life.

25.            We want more Singaporeans to spend their final days at home, in an environment where they feel comfortable, surrounded by loved ones.

26.            The response has been positive. As of June 2025, the utilisation rate for home palliative care was around 90%.

27.             We will expand capacity as demand grows.

28.            We want to continue supporting families who wish to be with their loved ones at home during their final journey.

29.            Next, I assure Mr Cai Yinzhou and Mr Yip Hon Weng that we do track outcomes of our programmes, such as frailty prevalence, social participation and caregiver well-being. We do so with different parties, including research institutions.

Transforming Care in the Community

30.            Let me now turn to care delivery transformation. By 2030, around 100,000 seniors will need help with at least one daily activity like eating or showering. They will likely need services from different service providers. We want their experience to be as seamless as possible and not have to run from pillar to post to receive these services. Technology will be a key enabler for tighter care coordination.

31.            I agree with Mr Cai’s point that we want to make it easier for seniors to access social and health services. 

a. First, we have introduced Integrated Community Care Providers, or ICCPs, in 84 sub-regions around Singapore – this means a single party to coordinate care for seniors within each area.

b. Currently, seniors undergo multiple care assessments done by different service providers they go to. Not only does this duplicate efforts for providers and create greater inconvenience for our seniors, our seniors may also end up with uncoordinated care due to different care plans.

c. We will streamline this entire process. From next month, seniors requiring multiple long-term care services will need only one comprehensive assessment done by the ICCP using a standardised, internationally recognised tool.

d. Each senior will have a single community care plan developed based on this assessment. Every provider that the senior goes to will take reference from this care plan.

e. Such an approach will ensure seniors benefit from a seamless experience and better coordinated care.

f. We will progressively roll this out from October this year.

g. We are  enabling this new way of coordinating and delivering services through a common IT platform for community care providers.

Enabling All Healthcare Providers

32.            Mr Azhar Othman asked about tele-consultations. I refer the Member to SMS Koh Poh Koon’s recent response to a Parliamentary Question on this matter.

33.            But fundamentally, MOH agrees with the Member to make good use of technology to improve the healthcare experiencefor our patients.

34.            For example, the Productivity and Digitalisation Grant launched in 2022 has supported more than 240 projects, such as systems to automate showering and vital signs monitoring. We intend to enhance the grant to make better use of technology solutions in the healthcare sector, including harnessing robotics and Artifical Intelligence. 

35.            Sir, when I brought this House through the Health Information Bill in January, I said that MOH will help healthcare providers meet the provisions. I am pleased to provide an update.

a. First, we are working with the vendors for health information management systems used by healthcare providers to comply with the necessary requirements.

b. Second, we will provide resource guides and training to help healthcare providers and their staff understand and implement these requirements.

c. Third, we will launch the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) Connect Grant, or NEHR Connect Grant, and open it for application in July this year. The Grant will offset the costs for providers to onboard the NEHR. For typical healthcare providers, this grant will cover up to two years of subscription costs for their health information management systems. For providers with in-house systems, the funding support covers up to 40% of enhancement costs. MOH will set aside up to $45 million for this.

36.            Let me illustrate how this would work for a typical clinic with five staff. 

a. Most of them already subscribe to a health information management system. They can apply and benefit from the NEHR Connect Grant.

b. On top of the NEHR Connect Grant, the clinic can receive up to 70% co-funding support from the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore to engage cybersecurity consultants.

c. They also benefit from up to 50% funding support from EnterpriseSG to adopt cybersecurity solutions such as those for anti-malware.

d.  In total, they can receive about $20,000 in grants.

Mandarin Segment

37.             Sir, in Mandarin please.

38.            在 新 年 期 间， 我 与 大 家 交 换 祝 福 时，察 觉 到 年 长 者 已 较 少 说 “恭 喜 发 财”, 而 是 多 说 “身 体 健 康”。

39.             他 们 明 白 保 持 健 康 的 重 要 性，尤 其 是 在 疫 情 之 后。

40.             为 了 鼓 励 年 长 者 继 续 保 持 身 心 健 康， 我 们 设立 了 超 过 230 间活 跃 乐 龄 中 心。

41.             今 年，我 们 也 将 指 定 综 合 社 区 护 理 服 务 业 者。护 理 团 队 将 根 据 年 长 者 的 需 求 为 他 们 协 调 与 计 划 更 全 面 的 保 健 护 理。

42.            举 个 例 子，如 果 年 长 者 需 要 居 家 个 人 照 料 服 务，同 时 也 要 到 乐 龄 护 理 中 心 ，他 们 只 需 要 与 一 个 护 理 团 队 联 系 就 可 以 了， 减 少 联 络 不 同 社 区 护 理 的 麻 烦。

43.            我 们 也 在 积 极 地 运 用 科 技，为 国 人 提 供 更 精 准 与 便 利 的 护 理 体 验。

44.            比 如，有 跌 倒 风 险 的 年 长 者 可 以 在 优 化 居 家 个 人 照 料 下，享 有 二 十 四 小 时 的 智 能 监 测。

45.            如 果 真 的 不 幸 发 生 意 外, 系 统 能 及 时 的 通 知 相 关 人 员 来 帮 忙。这 样 一 来，年 长 者 的 家 属 也 能 安 心 一 点。

46.            如 今，越 来 越 多 年 长 者 对 科 技 比 较 有 掌 握。

47.            因此，关 爱 乐 龄 办 事 处 通 过 LifeSG 应 用 程 序,与 年 长 者 互 动, 为 他 们 设 定 个 人 健 康 计 划。从 去 年 12 月 起，已 经 有 超 过 3,000 名 年 长 者 从 中 获 益。

48.            从 今 年 七 月 起，全 科 医 生可 以 在 电 脑 系 统 里 查 看 专 科 医 生、医 院 和 其 他 医 疗 机 构 之 前 为 病 人 记 录 的 健 康 资 料。

49.            这 样 一 来，医 生 能 够 更 全 面 地 了 解 病 人 的 情 况，为 他 们 制 定 最适 合 的 个 人 化 健 康 计 划，所 以 病 人 看 医 生 时，不 需要重 复 个 人 病 历。我 们 的 阿 公 阿嫲也 不 需 要 头 痛 和 担 心 医 生 之 前 给了 什 么 诊 断，开 了 什 么 药 方。

50.            俗 语 说 得 好 “ 家 有 一 老，如 有 一 宝”。我 们 正 在 积 极 运 用 科 技 提 升 护 理 质 量，确 保 年 长 者 能 在 熟 悉 的 环 境 中 接 受 治 疗。

51.             我 们  会 继 续 扩 展 这 些 服 务，让 每 一 位 年 长 者 都 能 获 得 所 需 要 的 关 怀 和 支 持。 我 们 要 我 们 家 里 的 老 宝 贝 们 健 健 康 康，开 开 心 心安 享 晚 年。

Closing: Charting Digital Health Future

52.            Sir, back to English.

53.            Through the Health Information Act and other digital health priorities, we are building a more connected, responsive and secure health system. This is in support of our broader healthcare transformation, to anchor care in the community with more coordinated services that wrap around our seniors. Importantly, a healthcare system that puts people first.

54.            Thank you.