SPEECH BY MR TAN KIAT HOW, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION & MINISTRY OF HEALTH, AT THE SINGAPORE HEALTH AND BIOMEDICAL CONGRESS, 8 OCTOBER 2026

Professor Joe Sim, Group Chief Executive Officer, NHG Health

Dr Lin Huiyu, Chair of Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress Organising Committee 2026

Distinguished guests,

Partners,

Ladies and gentlemen,

1.       A very good morning to everyone. It is my pleasure to join all of you here at the 24th Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress. This year’s theme — “Healthspan Revolution: Beyond Adding Years to Life” — comes at a particularly important moment for Singapore.

2.       This year, Singapore has become a super-aged society. More than one in five of our citizens is now aged 65 and above. We often speak about this milestone in terms of the challenges it brings — greater health needs, caregiving pressures, and a changing population. These are real issues, and we have to prepare well for them. But I hope that we do not come to see growing old itself as something to fear. There is an old Chinese verse that I like: 莫道桑榆晚，为霞尚满天。It means “do not lament that the sun is setting; the evening sky can still be filled with brilliant colour.”

3.       Our senior years should be years that we can look forward to — years of health, relationships, purpose and contribution. Years in which we can continue doing the things that give our lives meaning. That, to me, is the deeper meaning of healthspan. It is not simply about adding years to life, as often said. It is about helping people live those years well. And Professor Joe Sim earlier mentioned some of the areas that we like our Singaporeans to be able to enjoy: remaining independent at home, continue meeting friends, spending time with our children, our grandchildren, our loved ones, pursuing our interests and contributing to our communities, continue to be spouses, sons and daughters to our seniors —not just as caregivers. And that to me is what purposeful longevity can look like.

Building the community around the individual

4.       But living well for longer is not only about physical health. It is also about remaining connected, supported and engaged. This matters as our society ages. The number of one-person households in Singapore among those aged 65 and above more than doubled between 2014 and 2024. So one-person households for seniors aged 65 and above has more than doubled in 10 years. A local study cited by the Ministry of Health (MOH) found that older adults living alone were twice as likely to report depressive symptoms as those who did not live alone.

5.       That is why Age Well SG is important for us. It is not simply about providing more healthcare services. It is about building a stronger community around our seniors — helping them stay active, socially connected, and supported where they live. And as people age, their needs often become more complex. A senior may need a family doctor, rehabilitation, help at home, social support and, from time to time, specialist care. To the healthcare system, these may be different services provided by different organisations. To the senior and the family, there is only one life. So, we need to organise care around the individual, rather than expect the individual and family to organise themselves around our institutions.

6.       There are several ongoing efforts to do this:

(i)             Through Healthier SG, residents enroll with a regular family doctor, who supports them to manage their general health or chronic conditions through regular health screenings, vaccinations, and lifestyle adjustments.

(ii)            Most Active Ageing Centres, or AACs, which also support seniors’ social and health needs have co-located Community Health Posts, or CHPs, where residents can follow up with a nurse or health coach on their health needs. These are early programmes, but they are important steps we are taking because together, they provide preventive health services, basic health assessments, chronic disease and frailty management, or post-discharge follow-up where necessary.

(iii)          For frail seniors in the community, Enhanced Home Personal Care, or HPC+, provides more customised and frequent support through new features such as technology-enabled monitoring and response.

(iv)          And through the Integrated Community Care Provider, or ICCP, seniors with care needs can have a common coordinating touchpoint in the community, near where they live, a standardised assessment and a holistic care plan across services.

7.       These are different pieces of a larger shift we are making here in Singapore. Building a system around the individual and family, and making it easier for care to follow the person across settings. We will continue to try different models, learn from them, improve them, and scale the approaches that deliver better outcomes for seniors and caregivers. We do not have all the answers, and we welcome ideas, innovation, good practices, and cross-sharing of those good practices across our healthcare institutions. And that is how we can learn and adapt as a system, not as individual institutions. So, when I asked Professor Joe earlier, who are the attendees today, I am very glad that we have many representatives from different clusters here. I think that is really the culture of learning and collaboration that makes our system a learning one, a stronger one, and a more caring one for Singaporeans.

Moving healthcare upstream

8.       But better coordination is only part of the answer. If we want to extend healthspan, we also have to act earlier. Before chronic disease becomes complicated. Before frailty becomes dependency. Before an avoidable admission. Before caregiver strain becomes a crisis. Much of healthspan is won upstream.

9.       Our healthcare system is very good at responding when someone is ill. We are doing more to be good at anticipating risk, preventing disease and intervening before problems become harder to reverse. Healthier SG and Age Well SG are important parts of this shift. And today, I would like to highlight three concrete and very encouraging ways this upstream approach is taking shape here at NHG Health — in cancer care, in research, and in technology.

First, acting earlier across the cancer journey

10.      Cancer remains the leading cause of death in Singapore. About one in four Singapore residents has a risk of developing cancer before the age of 75. We have made significant progress in treatment and survival. But the healthspan perspective asks us to look beyond treatment alone. Can we identify higher-risk individuals earlier? Can we improve screening? Can we reach people who are currently under-screened? And can we better support patients through treatment, survivorship and life in the community? Treatment and post-cancer treatment does not stop when the person is in remission. They are still alive to continue. Can we better support many of the individuals and their families? And these are non-trivial questions we are grappling with, but I am very encouraged as we are taking very concrete steps in doing so

11.      And this morning, we mark the launch of the NHG Cancer Institute, or NHGCI. Building on NHG Health’s existing efforts, NHGCI will better integrate care across the cancer continuum — from prevention and early detection, through diagnosis and treatment, to survivorship and supportive care.

12.      One example is a new family-history screening tool jointly developed by the Singapore Cancer Society and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. It will help identify individuals who may be at higher risk of cancer, so that appropriate follow-up can happen earlier. NHG Health is also studying the cultural and religious factors that may influence colorectal-cancer screening decisions, so that we can design more inclusive interventions and better reach populations that remain under-screened. And later this morning, NHG Health and the Singapore Cancer Society will sign an MOU to strengthen cancer awareness, screening, post-diagnosis care and community-based supportive services.

13.      This is what moving upstream looks like in practice: not waiting for disease to become advanced, but acting earlier across the whole journey.

Second, research that helps us understand healthy longevity

14.      To intervene earlier, we also need to understand much more about what keeps people healthy — and what causes decline. Healthy ageing is not simply a medical question. It is shaped by brain health, physical function, behaviour, our environment, our social connections, and increasingly by the interaction between these factors. That is why this work has to cross disciplines.

15.      Under RIE2030 (Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2030), the “Maximising Healthy and Successful Longevity” Grand Challenge will advance research in areas such as brain health, physical functions and socio-environmental interventions. NHG Health’s academic partnership with the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and Nanyang Technological University is pursuing the same multidisciplinary approach.

16.      Ten Academic Clinical Programmes now bring together clinicians, researchers, engineers, educators and social scientists across a range of clinical domains. And yesterday, NHG Health launched the Healthy Longevity Institute, or HELI.

17.      HELI brings together expertise from healthcare, engineering, AI, the social sciences and humanities around a deceptively simple question: how do we help people stay healthy, active and engaged for longer? Simple question, but I think very complex and not an easy task to do. That is exactly the question a super-aged society needs to answer. And I am very glad we are putting resources to answer this very important question for Singaporeans and as well as for rest of the world who are facing similar challenges.

Third, using technology to help us act earlier and coordinate better

18.      The third area is technology. Technology should not be the starting point. But if used well, it can help us move upstream and extend care beyond the walls of our hospitals and clinics.

19.      Most of us already carry a powerful health-enabling device everywhere we go — and that is our smartphone, and some of you carry more than one. Increasingly, people may also use wearables, home sensors and other connected devices. These tools can help us understand health between visits, support healthier behaviours, monitor changes, and connect individuals and caregivers with care teams when support is needed.

20.      AI and predictive analytics can help identify risks earlier. Virtual care can extend the reach of healthcare professionals. Better-connected information can help different care providers coordinate around the same person. The real promise of AI and technology is not simply to make healthcare faster. It is to help healthcare become earlier, more personalised and more connected in transforming paradigm and protocols of care itself.

21.      This is why NHG Health’s new partnership with Singtel is relevant to the healthspan agenda. Together, they will explore opportunities across digital hospital initiatives, virtual health and AI — strengthening connected and integrated care within hospitals, while extending digital care into the community.

22.      The objective is not technology for technology’s sake. It is to help people stay well for longer, identify risks sooner, coordinate care more seamlessly, and intervene before problems become crises. For many people, the most important health technology in future may not be a sophisticated machine inside a hospital. It may simply be the phone already in their pocket or a wearable that they wear, and those are connected to a system that knows when and how to support them.

Closing

23.      So, in conclusion, let me return to where I started. Singapore becoming a super-aged society should not be a milestone we approach only with anxiety. It shouldbe an invitation to imagine a different future of ageing — one where longer lives are healthier, more connected and purposeful.

24.      To build that future, we need communities and care systems organised around the individual and family. And we need to keep moving upstream — detecting risks earlier, preventing diseases where we can, coordinating support before problems become severe, and using science and technology to help people remain independent for longer. Because healthspan is not an abstract measure, nor is it an abstract concept. It is another year someone can live independently at home. Another year they can meet friends, spend time with family and do the things they enjoy. Another year a loved one can remain primarily a spouse, a son or a daughter — rather than only playing a role as a caregiver. The old verse reminds us that the evening sky can still be filled with brilliant colour.

25.      Our task, your task, all of you, is to make sure that longer lives are also fuller lives — lived with health, independence, connection and purpose. To me, that is what it means to add life to years. And that is the Healthspan Revolution we should build together. With that, thank you for your attention, and look forward to working with all of you on this very meaningful effort. Thank you.