DATA ON RESTRUCTURED HOSPITAL ACTIVATING ADDITIONAL WARDS TO CONTAIN COVID-19 PATIENTS IN LAST THREE MONTHS

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1093
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 5 APRIL 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Ms He Ting Ru
MP for Sengkang GRC

Question No. 1746

To ask the Minister for Health in the last three months (a) how many days did each restructured hospital had to open or activate additional spill-over wards beyond the standard isolation wards to contain patients with COVID-19; and (b) how many patients in total were admitted to these spill-over or contingency wards.

Written Answer

In normal, pre-COVID-19 times, we maintain about 460 isolation beds across our public hospitals. In the last three months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public hospitals operated between about 960 and 1,680 isolation beds to care for COVID-19 patients. Public hospitals also had to activate surge capacity beyond normal ward capacity. As the Member would appreciate, during a pandemic crisis where emergency responses are the order of the day, such plans have to be very regularly activated.