SPEECH BY PROFESSOR KENNETH MAK, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, AT THE SINGAPORE-AUSTRALIA INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE SYMPOSIUM, 5 SEP 2026

Dr Teo Ho Pin, the Chairman of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board, 

Professor Chin Jing Jih as well as Professor Jason Cheah, who are the Deputy Chief Executives of NHG Health 

Professor Tang Kong Choong, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 

Professor Kanaga Sabapathy, who is the Chairperson of the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 

Professor Joseph Sung, who has introduced himself so admirably just now, the Dean of the LKC Medicine, but also the Senior Vice President at Nanyang Technological University, 

Ladies and Gentlemen 

         A very good morning to all of you, and it’s my pleasure to be here today at this inaugural Singapore-Australia Integrative Medicine Symposium. I’d like to begin by conveying my congratulations to the organisers, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), but also as Bernard has introduced, the Prevention and Recovery through Integrative Medicine (PRIME) team, which is a collaboration as Bernard has just explained, between TTSH and NTU. It is heartening also to see experts from both Singapore and Australia, as well as medical practitioners from both Western medicine and Chinese Medicine, all coming here today to discuss the future of integrative medicine.  

2.         Like many developing countries, or rather developed countries, Singapore’s population is ageing very rapidly. And more of our people are living longer, but many are also living with multiple chronic medical conditions, like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurological disorders. And as these needs grow more and more complex, what patients require is not just clinical excellence, but care that is coordinated, preventive and holistic. 

3.         And this is at the heart of Healthier SG – Singapore’s national strategy that shifts healthcare focus from treating illness to proactive prevention. And Healthier SG represents a fundamental shift in how we think about healthcare – moving away from a systems-level approaches which focus primarily on treating illness, towards one that invests in prevention, wellness, and long-term health outcomes for our population.  

4.         So, the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM align very nicely with this concept. It marries very basic principles that we've actually talked about, all of which are very important, because TCM’s philosophy and strengths lie in holistic wellness, emphasising the balance not only between bodily systems but also across mental health and the wider socio-environmental factors that affect and influence our well-being.  

5.         In TCM practice, practitioners treat more than just symptoms—they also guide patients on diet, exercise, lifestyle modifications that complement our Western doctors' health plans. And this puts TCM practitioners in a valuable position to support preventive care approaches. 

6.         A significant number already turn to TCM alongside Western medicine. And when I look at MOH’s 2022 National Population Health Survey, one in five adult Singaporeans use TCM every year and on a regular basis, and nearly 40% of these individuals combine TCM and Western medicine for the same condition. So their reasons for doing so are varied, but they commonly centre on the holistic and complementary value they perceive in TCM, particularly in chronic disease management, symptom relief, or supporting their recovery and rehabilitation. 

7.         So, in a sense, the data speaks for itself. Patients are not waiting for the healthcare system to catch up. They are already integrating TCM and Western medicine on their own, navigating between providers and making decisions largely without any formal guidance or coordination. So hence, the question before us is how we, as a healthcare system, ensure that such integrated care is safe, is well-coordinated, is evidence-based and is accessible to all who stand to benefit from it. 

Singapore's Regulatory Journey with TCM 

8.         Answering this question requires us to understand the foundations we are building on. And to chart the way forward, it helps to first consider how far we have come. 

9.         Singapore was among the first in the region to establish statutory regulation of TCM practitioners, and this was in 2001 through the formation of the TCM Practitioners Board. Today, over 3,500 registered practitioners meet the TCMPB’s rigorous professional standards. This regulatory framework has enabled us to build public confidence whilst maintaining the integrity of TCM practices. 

10.        Beyond establishing statutory regulation for TCM practitioners, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has made another strategic decision; rather than imposing full regulation and clinical governance of western medicine on TCM clinics, we chose to place TCM services under a system of self-regulation. This strategic decision enabled TCM to flourish whilst maintaining its distinctive philosophical foundations and ensuring significant and sufficient clinical oversight to the practice of TCM and TCM practitioners where they work. 

An Evidence-Based and Collaborative Approach 

11.        This was very important in order to provide the assurance that patient safety was not compromised, so with this distinctive regulatory foundation in place, Singapore is exploring now the potential for TCM to become a more meaningful part of our healthcare system. And our approach is to explore integrating TCM practices into the broader healthcare system that would be fundamentally evidence-based and built on collaboration. It requires Western doctors to be receptive and willing to work alongside TCM practitioners. Equally important, it requires TCM practitioners to engage with the standards and expectations of a modern healthcare system. 

12.        Since 2014, the MOH TCM Research Grant has been an important vehicle for fostering exactly these kinds of collaborations. By bringing together public healthcare institutions, academic institutions and TCM practitioners, the grant has supported more than 20 research projects to date. These projects have helped to build the evidence base, strengthen professional relationships across disciplines and develop that shared language that integration needs for proper integrative care to flourish. 

13.        In January last year, we advanced this further with the launch of the TCM Integrative Sandbox initiative or what we often call the TCMIS. The purpose is to test and evaluate evidence-based, cost-effective TCM treatments for specific conditions in our public hospitals within a controlled environment. Through carefully selected evidence-based treatments that complement existing practices, we are exploring how TCM and Western medicine can work hand in hand, leveraging the strengths of both systems to achieve synergistic outcomes that ensure optimal care and yet not compromise patient safety.  

14.        The TCMIS initiative creates a space where we can gather real-world evidence that is needed to make informed decisions, without prematurely committing to system-wide changes that have not yet been sufficiently evaluated. 

15.        In the longer term, we intend to draw on the local data generated through the sandbox initiative to guide our decisions on mainstreaming selected TCM treatments for specific conditions into a broader healthcare system. And where the evidence suggests and supports it, and where integration can be done safely and sustainably, we want to make these treatments to be made available to Singaporeans as part of integrated care. 

Enablers to Support Integration  

16.        Successful integration, however, is far from straightforward. For TCM to work alongside modern medicine and to become a trusted and sustainable part of our healthcare system, several aspects have to advance together.  

17.        First of all, research. There is a need for rigorous, high-quality clinical studies, implementation research and health services research to understand where integrative approaches work best, for whom, and for which conditions. Evaluating and prioritising areas of high disease burden with plausible patient benefit is also important for systematic tracking of clinical and cost-effectiveness. And this informs decisions and identifies best practices to develop, and allows us to then have these models that can be scalable across the healthcare system as and where it is appropriate.  

18.        Secondly, education and capability building. A recurring theme in integrative medicine programmes worldwide is the need for stronger communication and collaboration between practitioners across different disciplines. Western medicine-trained doctors need a deeper understanding of TCM principles and approaches. And similarly, TCM practitioners need to understand how modern healthcare systems operate and how diseases are managed from a Western medicine perspective. This mutual understanding is essential for safe and collaborative care, and it calls for deliberate investment in interprofessional education and the nurturing of clinician-scientists across both disciplines. The PRIME initiative's efforts to strengthen collaboration through integrated educational programmes represent an important step in this direction. 

19.        Thirdly, governance. Robust governance is necessary in the expansion of integrative medicine where clinical practice must be underpinned by clear standards and quality assurance processes for credentialing, supervision, incident reporting and professional accountability, alongside well-defined governance structures. This includes establishing appropriate referral pathways, developing collaborative care protocols, clarifying scopes of practice, and strengthening quality assurance mechanisms. It is also important to ensure patient safety through systematising drug-herb guidance within pharmacy and clinical workflows, as well as ensuring interoperability of TCM electronic records with well-defined clinical diagnosis codes, standardised fields, and appropriate data privacy.  

20.        Research, education and capability building, and robust governance in clinical practice must all advance together. It is only when they progress in step that integrative medicine can mature into something that healthcare system and patients can truly rely on.  

21.        So, I am really encouraged to see that today’s symposium addresses precisely these areas, including evidence-based practice, professional standards, workforce development, hospital integration and regulatory frameworks. It brings together perspectives from Australia and Singapore. Australia shares many similarities with Singapore — ageing populations, complex chronic disease burdens, multicultural communities with diverse healthcare preferences. The participation of our invited experts from Australia is particularly valued and valuable as we learn from international experiences and adapt these lessons very thoughtfully to Singapore's context. 

Conclusion 

22.        The future of healthcare lies in our ability to draw on these different strengths, disciplines and perspectives, and to bring them together in the service of our patients.  

23.        Integrative medicine offers therefore an opportunity to do exactly that. When done well, it can help us deliver more coordinated care, better patient experiences and improved health outcomes.  

24.        I hope the discussions over the course of this symposium will generate new insights, foster deeper collaborations amongst us and contribute meaningfully to the future development of integrative medicine in Singapore. 

25.        On this note, I wish you a very successful and productive symposium. Thank you for spending your morning with all of us, and we hope really that we will bring back very valuable insights.