Nestled in the
central-western area of Singapore, Alexandra Hospital is a
five-minute drive from the nearest MRT station. It is a
400-bed general and acute care hospital, offering its
patients the very best in personalized care and a tranquil,
healing environment. This garden hospital of Alexandra
Hospital today is a far cry from what it was 66 years ago –
in 1938.
Tel: (65) 6472 2000 Fax: (65) 6379 3880
CGH
offers a comprehensive range of medical and paramedical
services. The hospital’s motto, "Caring For The Community In
The East" encapsulates Changi General Hospital’s (CGH)'s
long-term objective to serve as a healthcare hub in the
east. Mainline - General Enquiry (24 hrs) 6788 8833: Fax:
6788 0933
KK
Women's and Children's Hospital, or simply KKH, is the
largest medical facility in Singapore which provides
specialised care in the areas of obstetrics and gynaecology,
neonatalogy and paediatrics. Tel: 6293 4044 Fax: 6293 7933
Mount Alvernia Hospital, Singapore, is a not-for-profit
private hospital. They are a 303-bedded secondary acute care
hospital catering to medical, surgical, paediatric and maternity
cases. As a missionary hospital, they are committed to
providing quality and affordable healthcare to the general
population. A portion of their operating surplus is
also used to fund community outreach projects, like Assisi Home
& Hospice. Their main hospital contact number is:
6347-6688 and their fax number is: 6255-6303.
With 21 clinical, 3 dental and 6
paramedical departments, as well as numerous specialist
outpatient clinics and specialised service centres, NUH has
a comprehensive range of services available to meet the
growing needs of its patients. It also has a pool of more
than 3000 professional staff providing round-the-clock
personalised care to our patients every day of the year. Tel: (65) 6779 5555
Fax: (65) 6779 5678 Email:
enquiries@nuh.com.sg.
Raffles
Hospital is a 380-bed tertiary care private hospital
offering a full complement of specialist services using the
most advanced medical technology. Call Centre Tel: (65) 6311
1111
Fax: (65) 6311 2136
SGH
is Singapore's oldest and largest acute tertiary hospital
and national referral centre. With about 1,400 beds and a
pool of over 500 specialists, SGH accounts for about a
quarter of the total acute hospital beds in the public
sector and about one-fifth of acute beds nationwide. Tel:
6222 3322 Fax: 6224 9221
Tan Tock Seng
Hospital (TTSH), established in 1844, is the second
largest hospital in Singapore, with specialty centres in
Rehabilitation Medicine and Communicable Diseases. The
hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and
medical equipment, as well as the latest communication and
information technology tools. Tel : 6256 6011 Fax : 6256
7282
From 1 January 2008, all dental schools
accredited by the American Dental Association and the Canadian Dental
Association will be added to the Schedule of the Dental Registration
Act.
The addition of 48 American dental schools
and 7 Canadian dental schools will increase the number of recognised
foreign dental schools in the Schedule from the current 34 to 89. The
list of new and current dental schools can be found in Annex A...
From January 1, 2008, non-PR foreigners will
not receive any healthcare subsidy. PRs will continue to be subsidised
for hospital services, but at 5 percentage points less than citizens.
From July 1, 2008, another 5
percentage-point reduction will be applied...
By the first quarter of 2008, over 4000
patients yearly at the community hospitals will be able to enjoy better
patient care, improved drug safety, fewer repeat tests and hence lower
costs with the extension of the Electronic Medical Records Exchange (EMRX)...
The extension marks the first step in the
Ministry of Health's plans to extend the EMRX beyond the public
sector...
MOH and theAgri-Food & Veterinary Authority
(AVA) conducted joint inspections of Prima Food Pte Ltd which produces
the chocolate cakes for all Prima Deli retail outlets.
Food and environmental samples were taken
for laboratory analysis. Preliminary results on 03 December 2007 for the
food samples are suggestive of Salmonella as the likely causative agent...
As at 03 December 2007, there were a total
of 106 cases including six hospitalised cases, all of whom have been
discharged. Six cases tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis. The
last case had onset of illness on 26 November 2007.
Out of the164
Singaporeans detected to be HIV infected in the first six months, about
93% of the new cases detected this year were males and 7% were females.
Sexual transmission remains the main mode of HIV
transmission among Singaporeans. Of the 164 cases reported in the first
6 months of 2007, 155 cases acquired the infection through the sexual
route, with heterosexual transmission accounting for 67% of infections,
homosexual transmission 24% and bisexual transmission 3%. Intravenous
drug use (4 cases) accounted for 2%...
Part II of the Bill establishes the
National Registry of Diseases and sets out its functions. These
include the collection of information on reportable diseases,
establishment of registers, compilation and publication of
statistics, and the provision of information for supporting health
services and national public health policies...
Clause 6, in Part III of the Bill,
makes the notification of reportable diseases mandatory for
managers of all healthcare institutions. The burden is placed on
the manager as he has the management and control of the
institution. Very limited data will be required to make a
notification...
As the general review into Ren Ci’s past
transactions also disclosed other gaps in corporate governance and
internal controls, MOH commissioned EYA to carry out a more in-depth
evaluation.
The follow-up reviews have since identified
some possible irregularities in certain financial transactions involving
Ren Ci and certain external organisations. Hence, MOH is commencing an
Inquiry into Ren Ci to establish a fuller and better understanding of
these irregularities...
MOE and MOH have jointly agreed for NUS and
NHG to establish a new governance structure for the NUS School of
Medicine (NUS-SoM) and the National University Hospital (NUH)...
Under the new governance structure, NUH and
NUS-SoM will be repositioned as a joint operating entity. This new
NUH-SoM entity will be governed by one Governing Board which will
include senior members from NHG, NUS, MOH and MOE...
MOH is building a regional hospital in
Yishun to better serve residents from the Northern region of Singapore.
Spanning over 3.4 hectares, the 550-bed hospital will offer a
comprehensive range of medical and healthcare services.
The new public sector hospital will be named
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, following the promise of a donation of $125
million from the family of the late banker and philanthropist Tan Sri
Khoo Teck Puat...
HSA is adopting a phased approach in
implementing the new regulations to minimise the impact to the
supply of medical devices and to provide sufficient time for the
industry to meet the new standards and requirements. The control
measures will be implemented in three phases, starting from 1
November 2007:..
Therefore, we propose to amend the IDA to
empower the Director of Medical Services (DMS) to obtain left-over
samples, and send them for the tests and examinations for the purpose of
monitoring the infectious disease situation in Singapore...
The Ministry proposes to expand the IDA to
empower DMS to close any premises as non-food establishments may also be
the source of an outbreak...
We propose to amend the IDA so that when
required, the DMS may require medical practitioners as well as other
categories of health care workers (e.g. TCM practitioners, dentists,
pharmacists, etc.) to obtain disease related information from their
patients...
MOH proposes to expand the IDA to
address the situation where an individual who, although unaware
that he is HIV-positive, has reason to believe that he has been
exposed to the risk of contracting HIV or AIDS (e.g. by having
unprotected casual sex with multiple partners)...
The Ministry of Health and the Singapore
Medical Council (SMC) will be including an additional 19 leading
international medical schools to the Schedule of the Medical
Registration Act with effect from 1st October 2007...
Included are 6 medical schools from China, 4
from India, 4 from Japan, 2 from Taiwan and 1 from South Korea. 2 more
medical schools from Europe have also been added...
Singaporeans graduating from any of the 159
international medical schools can also come back to Singapore, to
supplement the number graduating from our own medical schools...
"As of 1 Aug 2007, the Ministry of Health (MOH)
is allowing HIV testing with rapid HIV test kits to be offered in
medical clinics. Rapid HIV tests are screening tests that produce very
quick results, in approximately 20 minutes...
"Rapid HIV testing can only be conducted in a medical clinic by trained
clinic personnel, and only clinics which have participated in an MOH
training workshop on Rapid HIV Testing are allowed to offer rapid HIV
testing..."
MOH is setting up two new specialty centres
for cancer and heart disease at the National University Hospital to meet
the rising demand for tertiary care in these specialties...
Cancer and heart disease are the top
two killers, with cancer taking 4000 lives in Singapore each year.
They will remain the major causes of death and morbidity. New
cancer cases are projected to increase from 9,000 per year to
13,000 by 2015. For cardiology, outpatient attendances are
projected to grow from 200,000 per year to 320,000 by 2015. We
must ramp up our capacity and capabilities to meet this rapidly
growing demand...
"Following the recent ruling by the Fatwa
Committee of MUIS that Muslims can be included under the Human Organ
Transplant Act (HOTA), the Ministry of Health intends to amend HOTA to
improve the access of Muslim patients to donated organs...
"MOH proposes to amend the HOTA to include,
upon death, Muslims who are Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents
(PR) between the ages of 21 and 60 years, who are of sound mind, and who
have not opted out...
"The inclusion of Muslims under HOTA is
expected to provide up to five additional organ donors per year
(yielding up to 10 kidneys, 10 corneas, 5 livers and 5 hearts)..."
"Our preliminary computations suggest that
the total ElderShield rebate amount is likely to exceed $60 million.
When confirmed, it will be distributed to the existing policyholders
numbering some 770,000.
The rebates, when confirmed, will be given
out in proportion to each policyholder’s contribution during the 5-year
period..."
"Only temporary medical registration for service provision is being
phased out by 31 Dec 2007.
"Existing temporary registered doctors brought in as service providers
before 1 Jan 2008 can still continue to work here until they either
become conditionally registered (acquired recognized postgraduate
qualifications) or they have completed their 4-6 years of service in
Singapore..."
"Our current bed situation is tight,
particularly in the Tan Tock Seng Hospital as it is the only hospital
serving the large population in the north besides its own catchment
area.
"The over-crowding in TTSH in turn causes spill-over to the other
hospitals, especially National University Hospital and Changi General
Hospital. There will be relief when the new general hospital in Yishun
opens in 3 years time..."
"We support the stand that personal
information identifiable to an individual participating in human
biomedical research should be safeguarded.
"Proper rules governing the access and use of
personal information and a secure system of information protection would
re-assure research subjects on the confidentiality of personal
information.
"In this connection, MOH is drafting a
National Disease Registry Bill to provide an overarching legal framework
for the collection of epidemiological information on key diseases for
public health policy and planning purposes..."
"A higher
subsidy of $300 will be given to patients below per
capita family income of $300 per month.
"Approximately 550 more patients will stand to benefit
from the revised scheme. The new framework will apply
to new patients who seek dialysis treatment at the
VWOs..."
"Right now, it is one Singaporean,
multiple medical records, stored away in different clinics and
hospitals in different formats, and not connected or consolidated.
As a result, when patients visit different doctors, they have to
have tests repeated and scans redone. This adds to unnecessary
cost.
"We are moving towards this target of
'One Singaporean, One EMR'. Because of legacy systems, we cannot
achieve it in one step. But we have made progress...
"However, this is a complex national
project - very few if any countries have successfully implemented
a system that links up public, private and the charity sector..."
"MediShield coverage among active
workers is not bad, at 90%. But 390,000 Singaporeans below 20
years of age are not insured. The premium at their age is
inexpensive, only $30 per year.
"And
young parents can use their Baby Bonus to pay the
premium. So cost is not the issue...
"We will introduce an
opt-out scheme for infants to be automatically covered
under MediShield from the time their births are
registered.
"Premiums can be deducted
from their fathers' Medisave or alternatively their
mothers'. Parents who do not want such coverage can
opt out any time by informing the CPF Board. We will
get this done later this year..."
"The heaviest patient attendances were
seen at Ang Mo Kio (27,041) and Jurong (24,275), more than double
the volumes seen at polyclinics such as Queenstown (9,345), Marine
Parade (10,393) and Outram Polyclinics (10,550) - the lowest in
attendances among polyclinics..."
"From October 2007, PRs will
continue to be subsidised for hospital services, but at 5
percentage-points less than Singapore citizens.
"From October 2008, another 5
percentage-point reduction will be applied. This way, Singapore
citizens will enjoy greater subsidy than PRs, by a total of 10
percentage- points.
"As for the other foreigners, there
will be no more healthcare subsidy from October 2007..."
"The 2005 data show that public
hospitals are affordable. This is especially so for the
Class B2 and C wards.
"The average B2 and C bills are below
$1,100. 95% of all B2/C bills are below $3,500.
Considering the high standard of clinical care provided
in our public hospitals, this is quite an
achievement..."
In Singapore, the number of HIV-positive
people has climbed steadily from the first case detected here in 1985 to
2,641 by December 2005. Three out of four (74.77%) who are infected are
actively employed...
In 2005, out of the 255 new cases reported,
a great majority (87%) comprised the age group of 20 - 59 years old,
with those aged 20 - 49 years accounting for as much as 70% of all new
cases...
"As a result of direct Government subsidies,
the average Class B2/C bills are relatively modest. In
2004, the average bill size for Class B2 and C wards
were around $1,050 and $800 respectively...
"As at end-December 2004, the average
Medisave balance for all active accounts was $17,321. This is enough
to cover more than 20 times the average Class C hospital bill or 10
times the 90th percentile Class C bill..."
"Previously, some wives were not aware of
their spouse's HIV status and so they were at risk of the HIV infection.
Since July this year, we have informed the wife when the infected
husband had not informed her of his positive HIV status.
"Over the last 5 months, 41 women have been
informed by hand-delivered letters that their partner is infected and
that they should go to CDC for testing..."
"This brings the total number of HIV infected
Singaporeans including 25 children to 2584 as of Oct 2005. Of
these, 999 are asymptomatic carriers, 631 have full-blown AIDS and 954
have died.
Heterosexual transmission has been the most
common mode of HIV transmission among Singaporeans
since 1991.
Most of these cases contracted the infection through casual sex and sex
with prostitutes in Singapore and overseas..."
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