Health Matters

It has been just about two months since we unveiled the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan. As many of you may recall, the Masterplan outlines a slew of measures to enhance the affordability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare, to better meet the needs of Singaporeans.

Since then, I have received encouraging feedback on many of our healthcare initiatives, especially via the REACH portal. Measures which many Singaporeans welcome include the enhanced subsidies for Intermediate and Long-term Care (ILTC) services, and the expanded scope of the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS). Continue reading “Thoughts on healthcare affordability” »

The Ministry recently launched the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) (formerly known as the Primary Care Partnership Scheme) to help more middle and low income Singaporeans benefit from subsidised care at GP and dental clinics near their homes. This scheme makes it easier and more convenient for Singaporeans aged 40 and above who qualify to manage their chronic diseases early, and avoid unnecessary medical complications. While it’s possible to treat medical conditions after they have set in, the best way to avoid all chronic diseases is to live a healthy lifestyle. As the adage goes, prevention is better than cure! I’m sure we are all aware of this, the question often is “how?” Continue reading “Living Healthily” »

Last December, I came across an article in Zaobao titled “Old Man Living Alone Has Lingering Concerns” (独居老伯 心有牵挂). It describes an old man, Mr Huang Ji Fu (黄吉富), who lives alone after his wife had a stroke. She had to be admitted to a nursing home because he was unable to take care of her at home. His thoughts were however never far from her.
Continue reading “Caring for Our Senior Population” »

A reporter asked me whether being the Minister-in-Charge of Ageing Issues was an additional ECA (Extra Curricular Activity) for me. I said that it was not an “ECA” but a “CCA” (Co Curricular Activity)!

Indeed, an ageing population will be a major force shaping our society over the next one or two decades. We will see about 400,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 years old between now and 2020. However, the bulk of Baby Boomers, or about 600,000 people, will turn 65 years old between 2020 and 2030. 600,000 people today is equivalent to about the size of Ang Mo Kio, Choa Chu Kang, Toa Payoh, and Yishun taken together!

Continue reading “Tackling A Mega Challenge” »

I am glad to have the opportunity to meet up with over 300 GPs at the Primary Care Seminar in October this year, and sought their views on how we can partner them to enhance primary care. It is critical that we do this well if we want Singaporeans to stay healthy and age gracefully. Following the seminar, MOS Dr Amy Khor and I continued to meet up with many GPs at engagement sessions hosted by our public sector hospitals. I find these sessions useful in giving me a better understanding of the challenges faced by the GPs and their concerns about the partnership. Continue reading “Partnering our GPs in primary care” »

On several occasions, MPs, the media and Singaporeans I met have asked me whether we can ease the current squeeze on the capacity of our restructured hospitals and whether our new hospitals and other healthcare infrastructure can be built faster. We have indeed accelerated our hospital building programme over the past few years, to keep pace with the rising healthcare needs of the population. Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and Jurong Community Hospital, and Yishun Community Hospital, will open in 2014-2015. We are also building a number of nursing homes, which will be opening over the next few years. Continue reading “Bring forward Sengkang Hospital from 2020 to 2018” »

It was a team effort that saw through the recent wide-ranging financing policy changes to improve the affordability of outpatient care. Continue reading “Outpatient affordability – a team effort” »

It has been three months since I joined the healthcare family, and the learning curve has been very steep, but I have been enriched by the experience. During his post-NDR press conference, Minister Gan announced several initiatives to make healthcare more affordable for Singaporeans, such as changes to the Primary Care and Partnership Scheme so that patients can see GPs at subsidised rates. Minister also spoke on how to better care for the elderly in the community. Here, I would like to build upon what Minister has shared, and add my thoughts on how we can serve our ageing population better. Continue reading “Caring for our elderly” »

I am a lady doctor running a family practice in the heartlands of Jurong for the past 12 years. I dropped by today to share some thoughts on my journey with the Primary Care Partnership Scheme (PCPS). Continue reading “PCPS – Caring for those a step behind” »