Speech by Mr Chee Hong Tat, Minister of State for Health, Healthcare Infrastructure Technology and Engineering Conference, 19 January 2016

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning.  It is my pleasure to join you today at the fourth Healthcare Infrastructure Technology & Engineering Conference (HI.TEC). Welcome to the conference, and to our overseas speakers and guests, welcome to Singapore. 

2.           Like many developed countries, Singapore is facing a rapid increase in healthcare demand brought about by an ageing population. The number of citizens aged 65 and above has doubled in the last 15 years, and is expected to double again in the next 15 years. If we continue business as usual, the rise in healthcare demand will become unsustainable.

3.           Under the Ministry of Health’s Healthcare 2020 Masterplan, we are expanding healthcare capacity and improving quality of care in Singapore.  We are on track to add more than 10,000 beds in acute hospitals, community hospitals and nursing homes; as well as more than 7,000 places for community care, home care, and palliative care by 2020. 

4.           We are also trying to improve healthcare affordability for Singaporeans. One major initiative was the Pioneer Generation Package, which provided support and peace of mind for our pioneers, these are Singaporeans who helped to build-up the country during our early years of nation building. The introduction of MediShield Life in November last year is a major step in ensuring that all Singaporeans receive lifelong protection against large hospital bills and costly outpatient treatments.

5.           At the same time, we must also ensure that our healthcare system is sustainable. Given our limited manpower, land and financial resources, we must do all we can to prevent rapid increases in healthcare costs, as that will ultimately be borne by all Singaporeans through taxation, insurance premiums or medical fees.  The parties who will benefit are the service providers, medical equipment  companies and drug suppliers.  They will make more money at the expense of Singapore and Singaporeans.

6.           I am glad to see that the theme of today’s conference, ‘Cost effective hospital design: Doing more with less’, appropriately addresses some of these challenges and allows us to come together to share and learn from one another. 

7.           Let me briefly share how the Ministry of Health and MOH Holdings (MOHH) have been trying to develop our new healthcare facilities.  This can be summarised into two (2) “I”s:  (1) Integration; and (2) Innovation.

Integration

8.           First, Integration.  MOH’s overall objective is to integrate care across the healthcare system, comprising primary, acute and long term care.  We want to provide care at the most appropriate setting.  Often, this is not at the acute hospital.  Large acute hospitals cost a lot to build, operate and maintain.  They are not the best places to provide continuing care for chronic and age-related diseases.  If we do everything through the acute hospitals, healthcare costs will shoot up and become unsustainable.   

9.           To facilitate the integration process, MOH has been co-locating community hospitals with our acute hospitals.  Last year, we launched the first of such integrated hospitals – Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and the adjoining Jurong Community Hospital.  I also visited the newly opened Yishun Community Hospital which is located next to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. We will co-locate more community hospitals with existing and new general hospitals in Outram, Sengkang and Woodlands.

10.       Co-location enables healthcare institutions to share resources. A good example is ‘The Integrated Building’ which is jointly operated by Changi General Hospital and St. Andrew’s Community Hospital. The collaboration includes sharing of facilities, IT systems and allied health services such as medical social services, medical laboratory and pharmacy. This improves cost-effectiveness and resource utilisation.

11.        We are also integrating new nursing homes within the community. The Ren Ci Nursing Home in Bukit Batok is one such example. To optimise the land use, the nursing home is co-located with a senior care centre to meet the health and social needs of elderly residents. Some of the nursing home facilities, such as the multi-purpose hall and gym are open for use by other residents in Bukit Batok and Bukit Gombak.      

Innovation

12.       Second, Innovation.  As the number of healthcare projects grow, it is important that we actively look for innovative ideas to optimise design, workflows and improve productivity in our healthcare infrastructure development and also in the management of these healthcare infrastructure. MOHH has embarked on three key initiatives.   

13.       First, the next generation Building Information Modelling (BIM).  This was adopted for the construction of Yishun Community Hospital. Through technologies like 3D digital modelling, BIM enabled the Yishun Community Hospital project team to pre-empt design flaws before construction started.  This translated to better quality assurance as well as time and cost savings.  We will continue to use BIM for major projects.

14.       Next, the Construction, Asset, Standardisation and Engineering (CASE) portal. This is a one-stop portal for knowledge retention and sharing of technical specifications. The pilot project using CASE is the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), which is currently under construction. The project documents have been consolidated in one portal for effective knowledge management, and can be easily drawn upon when required for future projects.

15.       Lastly, the Integrated Healthcare Asset Management (iHAM) system to manage critical equipment and systems within healthcare facilities. This has been successfully piloted at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.  As we build more healthcare facilities, it is important to maintain them in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The ability to capture, store and analyse information enables healthcare institutions to improve asset utilisation and extend their useful life, while looking into ways to enhance operational efficiency.

Conclusion

16.       To conclude, I urge MOHH and our public sector institutions to be bold in innovating and pushing the boundaries to develop better healthcare models and solutions.  Be open to trying new ideas and not be overly afraid of making mistakes. 

17.       If I may share a quote from Edwin Land who was one of the co-founders of Polaroid, and one of Steve Jobs’ childhood heroes, he said, “An essential aspect of creativity, is not being afraid to fail”. So while we have a conference where we talk about good examples and success stories, I also hope that the participants and speakers will be open to talk about some of the mistakes made, and what lessons we have drawn from those mistakes to help us do better for future projects.

18.       MOH Holdings can be a pathfinder for the design of future healthcare facilities.  The expertise will benefit Singapore and can be applied to other countries which are also ramping up their healthcare facilities.  This is one of the ways for Singapore to turn our challenges into opportunities through innovation.   

19.       I wish all of you a fruitful conference.

20.       Thank you.