The Official Launch Of The SGH-Postgraduate Allied Health Institute (PGAHI)

15 Feb 2006

By Ms Yong Ying-I, Permanent Secretary

Venue: The College of Medicine Building - Auditorium

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

I am very pleased to attend the official launch of the Singapore General Hospital-Postgraduate Allied Health Institute.

Allied Health Profession in Singapore

The Allied Health professionals have a long tradition. Pharmacists and radiographers have practised their craft for more than a century. Other professions followed, including dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and podiatrists. 

Today, the Allied Health professionals account for a sizeable 14% of the total healthcare workforce in Singapore. They play a very important role in providing holistic and therapeutic care to patients. Our Allied Health professionals have also been most energetic and innovative in furthering their practice, education and training for the benefit of their patients.

Increase Demand for Allied Health Professionals

By 2030, one in every five Singaporeans will be 65 years or older. Hence, it is imperative that patient care evolve to meet the needs of society. With an increase in life expectancy and growing affluence, there will be a greater demand for better quality healthcare services, particularly in rehabilitation, continuing and stepdown care. We must cultivate a team of competent, skilled healthcare professionals who can meet the evolving demands and expectations of our people.  To meet this increased demand effectively, we need to strengthen our education and training.

Education and Training

This is because our competitive advantage lies in high quality medical care provided by strong team of healthcare professionals. As such, the Ministry of Health is committed to systematically upgrading and developing the professionals across the entire health ecosystem. For doctors, we intend to put in place a structured post-graduate training programme to equip our Family Physicians to better manage patients holistically. For nurses, the NUS degree programme and the development of the Advance Practice Nurse track will enable them to take on greater responsibilities in areas such as mental and adult health. Likewise, we are looking at ways to make it easier for healthcare assistants to upgrade themselves to eventually become Enrolled or Registered Nurses.

In the early years, many of our Allied Health professionals were trained overseas.  It was only in 1992 that Nanyang Polytechnic Health Science School opened its doors and welcomed its first students in Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Radiography and Radiation Therapy. Most practising therapists now consider themselves NYP alumni, and more than 90% of NYP's students have had at least one clinical placement at SGH. 

Going forward, the Allied Health professionals will need to take on greater responsibilities. MOH will work with the various stakeholders over the next few years to upgrade the Nanyang Diploma courses to an undergraduate Degree programme. Our intention is to establish an Allied Health School that the profession can eventually call its own.

We recognise that the Allied Health Professionals are a diverse group of clinical practitioners. Where possible, we will provide for training locally. I am pleased to announce that NUS will be offering a graduate entry Masters of Science programme in Speech and Language Pathology starting January next year.  However, in other areas for which we have not yet built up training capabilities, we will identify key areas of national need and offer more scholarships for passionate and talented young individuals to pursue their studies overseas. The launch of SGH-PGAHI is therefore timely. It is a critical component of the Government's broader national efforts to upgrade the Allied Health profession.

SGH-PGAHI: A Resource Centre for Postgraduate Training

I was told that in the mid-Nineties, the idea of SGH setting up a dedicated institute arose from a desire to have more focused development programmes for the profession. This institute has already begun to play a pivotal role in allied health education, as we now will house teaching programmes in many specialised areas which were not previously available in Singapore or even the region.

In the 3 short years since its inception, the institute has provided more than 500 training places in 50 different professional skills development courses and clinical attachment programmes. Its students have come from as far as Australia, Kuwait, and India. 

As part of its mission to be an international centre of excellence for advanced skills training in paramedical education, the PG-AHI has also formed alliances and signed Memorandum of Understanding with various top universities. This will give the institute access to a huge range of resources in research and clinical training.

Future Plans

We need to attract and recruit Allied Health professionals from the best schools worldwide to position ourselves as an international centre of medical excellence. The Ministry of Health will continually review the standards of foreign qualifications to ensure that quality is not compromised. For foreign-trained professionals from non-traditional sources, a qualifying examination will be put in place from this year to assess their entry competencies. Such examinations are already a standard feature in our polytechnics and will offer an objective basis of assessing foreign-trained professionals. There are also plans to regulate the Allied Health profession through legislation. These initiatives toward greater transparency and standardisation of entry of foreign-trained allied professionals are necessary as Singapore enters into more Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Future Role of PG-AHI

The establishment of SGH Postgraduate Allied Health Institute is an important addition to the Outram campus. This further expands the role of the Outram campus in medical teaching and education, which also houses the Postgraduate Medical Institute, the Alice Lee Institute of Advanced Nursing, and, soon, the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.  An integrated Outram campus will play a pivotal role in building our national manpower capabilities by preparing our healthcare professionals for the challenges ahead.

Education includes the furtherance of knowledge.  Going forward, the PG-AHI can play an even bigger role in developing the Allied Health profession.  With the expansion of clinical research headlined by the opening of the NUS-Duke Graduate Medical School and MOH's intentions to expand clinical research, our Allied Health professionals will have opportunities to be involved in cutting edge research that will push the boundaries and standards of allied health in Singapore.  This aligns with our aspiration to establish Singapore as a medical hub that provides the best care in the region.

MOH will do its part to facilitate upgrading and developing the profession.  But ultimately, it is up to you, as a profession, to define yourselves, your work and your role within the healthcare continuum. This matters to Singaporeans who will be the primary beneficiaries of your efforts. 

Conclusion

Let me congratulate you and SGH on the launch of the Postgraduate Allied Health Institute. I wish you every success and growth for the coming years, and I look forward to your contribution to the improvement of post graduate training for Allied Health professionals.

Thank you.