REMARKS BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE SYNAPXE@ELEMENTUM OPENING, 18 SEPTEMBER 2024, 12PM

        It's good to see everybody here. The opening of this office marks the good work that has been done over the years.

 2.    First of all, I would like to thank our landlord, Ho Bee Group and Dr Chua Thian Poh. Thank you for developing this very conducive development not just for Synapxe, but it is also home to MOH Holdings. We are very happy to make Elementum our home.

3.     I would also like to thank an old friend, Mr Richard Lim, who has been chairing Synapxe for six years. I must say that he and the Board Members saw Synapxe through some very challenging but exciting years. Thank you very much Richard and the Board of Directors.

4.      I also thank Siew Ying, Synapxe’s CEO, who was happily working as a Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Health (MOH). When I heard they wanted to send her to Synapxe, I thought it was a good choice and I am very glad that we made that choice. Siew Ying is not an IT person but she brought with her skills that complemented the team. Together with the Board, she has brought Synapxe through very challenging but important years. Now, we have a very good foundation to work on. I resonate with Siew Ying’s position. I am a non-doctor who is a Health Minister, and she is a non-IT person who is the CEO of Synapxe. Sometimes it can be done.

5.     For a few years, we have laid the foundation for IT systems in healthcare. For example, Siew Ying mentioned that the Next Generation Electronic Medical Record (NGEMR) has been commissioned in two clusters. In two to three years’ time, it will also be commissioned in the third cluster, which is SingHealth. This is very powerful. When other countries in the world hear that we have done this for our healthcare system, they ask me how we managed to do this.

6.     The opportunities are tremendous and we can do a lot of things. This is just one example, but there are other major accomplishments that have been achieved. For example, we have the National Harmonised Integrated Pharmacy System, National Billing System, and various cybersecurity initiatives which were all done over the past few years. It is time that we take off. It is time that IT systems and IT-enabled healthcare take off from here, marked by the opening of this new office. I know that when a Minister or leader talks about HealthTech, it can be in very general terms. It is always about IT bringing tremendous innovation and wonderful breakthroughs. But we need to go beyond the generalities, and we need to deliver. I think we can, but how?

7.      First, is to really recognise that Synapxe is not just a service provider to our healthcare clusters, and vice versa, the healthcare clusters are not really your customers. You have to be almost equal partners for healthcare systems to deliver real benefits. All sides have to come together and there has to be give and take. Because it is not just to deliver whatever the user wants. There will be times when you can count on me to tell you that we need to harmonise things, and that we need to standardise our policies. Only then can the healthcare system and IT system deliver. This is the truth, and these are the trade-offs that we are facing. We need to work together as partners, and with the facilitation of MOH, I think we can make those decisions and start to deliver.

8.     Second, now that we have data facilitated by NGEMR, plus other systems that are coming online, these are powerful tools for us to use data to transform healthcare. We need to go beyond generalities, which means we need to identify use cases that can really make an impact. Pick the use cases and make sure they work across our systems. This is something we must continue to do.

9.     Third, we must make sure that the whole MOH family comes together and we are able to make good decisions together. Ultimately, it boils down to this. If we can do this, then we can start to deliver. Then, Synapxe will be able to live up to your mission and promise.

10.   This is a general speech, like all speeches about HealthTech are, but I hope this is the last general speech I make about HealthTech. Henceforth, we will start to announce initiatives that will create real impact. We will start to announce initiatives that will reduce costs and serve our patients better.

11.   Congratulations once again. Thank you.