Inauguration Of Health Sciences Authority

31 Mar 2001

By Mr Lim Hng Kiang

Professor C C Hang, Chairman, Health Sciences Authority;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a pleasure for me this morning to officiate at the inauguration of the Health Sciences Authority.

HSA - a significant milestone

The formation of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) marks a significant milestone in the development of the medical, pharmaceutical and scientific expertise in the Health Sciences for Singapore. Each of the five Departments that my Ministry has integrated into this new statutory board has strong and unique professional capabilities and achievements. Bringing these capabilities together into HSA will provide the catalyst for greater scientific synergy and excellence. With enhanced management autonomy, HSA can be more responsive to the development of new capabilities. This will ensure that Singapore continues to have a capable and credible regulatory agency for new health care products. The larger and stronger critical core of expertise in HSA will be better positioned to develop, harness and integrate the professional capabilities necessary to meet the challenges of the future.

I have explained the rationale for the formation of HSA in my 2^nd Reading speech in Parliament for the HSA Bill. As HSA now stands at the threshold of its new beginning, I would like to outline some of the key areas that HSA will need to concentrate on during the first few years.

Building up talent in HSA

HSA's vision is "to be world-class in scientific and regulatory expertise in Health Sciences". The key to achieving this vision is in HSA's long term strategy for the building up of talent. The quality of our professionals must be comparable to that of world-class centres. Therefore, HSA must be able to recruit a share of the best scientific and healthcare talents both locally and from abroad. HSA must invest in talent development by sending their staff for training in leading universities and for attachments in leading centres overseas and forge strong professional links and exchanges with them. HSA will provide scholarships at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels as part of its strategy to attract and develop a flow of talent for the future.

As a statutory board, HSA is now better placed to build a strong and robust talent management and development system. HSA has initiated a major review of its compensation and benefits system and its performance appraisal system. I also understand that HSA is working towards attaining the People Developer Standard by April 2002. These are steps in the right direction and will enable HSA to achieve the right benchmarks for talent and a strong emphasis on the growth of its human capital. I would urge HSA to pro-actively develop overseas exchange programmes so that staff can train regularly and stay updated on the latest developments.

Regulating prescription drugs

A key component of our effort to ensure quality healthcare that is affordable is to monitor the cost and availability of prescription drugs in Singapore. The cost of prescription drugs can be expected to rise with new technologies and new drugs as pharmaceutical company's price the new drugs in order to recover the cost of developing the drug. There are also other factors that contribute to the cost of a drug to a patient, for example, the global marketing and pricing strategy of the pharmaceutical company, the availability of competitive alternatives, the prescribing choice of the doctor and whether the drug is more directly accessible to the public.

To ensure that drug costs remain affordable in our restructured hospitals and institutions, we have a standard drug list of about 700 drugs that are able to cost-effectively treat common ailments suffered by the majority of the population. We review this list every year. Also, SingHealth and NHG have collaborated for the bulk purchasing of drugs so as to achieve greater economies of scale.

However, the challenge of ensuring affordable prescription drugs is a formidable one and goes beyond just a standard formulary and bulk purchases. My Ministry has therefore set up a multi-disciplinary committee to review the prescription drug situation in Singapore and to recommend the policies, practices and processes that will be necessary to ensure drug costs continue to remain affordable for all Singaporeans. The committee has been tasked to complete its recommendations to the Ministry by the end of this year.

HSA will be at the forefront of the review and will provide the professional input for the committee's deliberations. HSA through its Centre for Pharmaceutical Administration (CPA) will create an open regulatory environment that will allow Singaporeans to have access to the latest drugs at competitive prices. It will continue to have regular dialogues with the industry and review licensing procedures to facilitate entry of new drugs and parallel imports. CPA will develop a capability in Pharmaco-economics to lead the market in providing cost-comparison data both to doctors and to the public so as to guide the making of rational cost-effective prescribing decisions.

Maintaining a global perspective

In this age of globalisation and global access to information, HSA will need to be a regulatory and scientific organisation with a global perspective. The quality, safety and efficacy of health care products available in Singapore must be benchmarked with the best in the world. Our professional expertise must be able to withstand international scrutiny. HSA must continue to ensure the quality of its professional expertise and services by achieving international accreditation whenever available.

HSA must network with the best equivalent agencies globally to keep pace with the latest technology and the best international practices. I understand that contact has already been made with leading agencies in the US, Europe and Australia. I would encourage HSA to strengthen and formalise these relationships and to develop areas of professional collaboration that are mutually beneficial.

I also understand that HSA is involved in global initiatives to achieve regulatory harmonisation. For example, HSA has been participating in the Global Harmonisation Task Force (GHTF) for the harmonisation of regulatory requirements for medical devices and chairs the Asian Harmonisation Working Party, a regional grouping working towards implementing the GHTF consensus in Asia. HSA has also been active in a number of ASEAN technical cooperation initiatives involving health care products. HSA must continue to be involved in these and other relevant regional and international initiatives to contribute as a global player so as to achieve higher medical and pharmaceutical safety.

Achieving public confidence

As the national regulatory agency, HSA is accountable to Singaporeans for the quality, safety and efficacy of their health care products. It is therefore necessary for HSA to actively foster strong public confidence in its regulatory decisions and scientific expertise. This will involve demonstrating competency, objectivity and transparency in the way it operates. HSA can also play a role in educating the public and providing reliable up-to-date information so that Singaporeans can make good informed choices for themselves.

Conclusion

I have outlined the agenda facing HSA in the years ahead. Let me in closing say that we have appointed a Board of highly qualified, civic minded and dedicated members to lead HSA. With the commitment of management and staff, I have every confidence that HSA will achieve success in all its endeavours.

On that note, it is now my pleasure to inaugurate the formation of the Health Sciences Authority. Thank you.