Speech by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health, at the CHAS Family Carnival, 13 March 2016

Grassroots leaders and members

Residents of Chua Chu Kang

Good morning.

2.    Welcome to the CHAS Family Carnival organised by the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). I hope you are having a good time participating in the various activities arranged for you.

Update on CHAS and how it has benefitted Singaporeans

3.    Many of you are aware of the Community Health Assist Scheme, or more commonly known as CHAS. CHAS has come a long way. It is a Government initiative which provides affordable healthcare for lower- to middle- income Singaporeans and Pioneers at participating GP and dental clinics across the island.

4.    Since its introduction in 2012, we have significantly enhanced the scheme so that more Singaporeans can benefit from CHAS. The number of chronic conditions covered under the scheme has doubled from ten in 2012 to nineteen today. In 2014, we removed the age criterion to allow the whole household, regardless of age, to benefit from CHAS. In late 2014, we extended CHAS benefits to all Pioneers, regardless of income.

5.    Today, there are about 1.4 million Singaporeans with a CHAS or Pioneer Generation card. They can receive CHAS subsidies when they visit participating GPs and dentists, and close to half have done so. Last year alone, 650,000 Singaporeans benefitted from the scheme, receiving a total of $167 million^[1] in subsidies.

6.    Critical to the success of CHAS are our valuable partners – the CHAS clinics. We now have a wide network of more than 1,500 CHAS clinics across the island. In Chua Chu Kang GRC alone, we have 27 GP and 21 dental clinics serving almost 70,000 Pioneer and CHAS cardholders. Our CHAS clinics have done well to provide our fellow Singaporeans with convenient access to good, subsidised healthcare services within the community.

7.    I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all of you here who are eligible for CHAS to sign-up for it. If you are already holding a CHAS or Pioneer Generation card, do continue to seek care with your regular GP clinic. More importantly, do continue to stay healthy.

GPs as your Trusted Health Partner

8.    Some of my residents shared with me how their GPs have been looking after three generations of their families. Our GPs do a lot more than just treating common coughs and colds. They walk alongside us and our families to keep us healthy.  They vaccinate our children, perform health screening when we get older, manage our chronic diseases, and support us with health advice as we go through different life stages.  As they know our family better, they are able to take into consideration our family needs and risks, and give us better advice on health matters.

9.    I am very encouraged that GPs are doing more to support their patients.  For example, they are increasingly involved in managing chronic conditions. The number of CHAS chronic patients who sought care at CHAS GPs increased from 107,000 in 2014 to 160,000 in 2015. This figure would be higher if we included non-CHAS patients.

10. A strong family doctor-patient relationship is important. Those who have a regular GP will agree with me that when your GP is a trusted partner in your healthcare journey - you can feel assured and have a greater peace of mind.

11. We hope every Singaporean will have a regular family doctor, so that they can care for you better, and closer to you. We will be doing more to encourage this.

Support for GPs

12. We have and will continue to support our GPs to care for their patients. For example, since 2010, MOH, together with AIC and other healthcare partners, have established six Community Health Centres across Singapore. These Centres offer important support services in chronic disease care, such as diabetic eye, foot screening and nurse counselling, to complement our GPs.

13. Continuous training is essential to help our GP partners stay up to date on the changing healthcare landscape. MOH provides training subsidies to encourage GPs to undergo post-graduate training, such as Graduate Diploma programmes in Family Medicine and Mental Health. AIC has also played a big role in helping to organise training sessions for our GPs and their staff on the various primary care schemes.

Conclusion

14. As we work to strengthen our primary care sector, my hope is for all Singaporean families to build trusted, long-term relationships with a regular family doctor. For residents who do not yet have a regular GP, I urge you to have one soon to receive care close to you. We have prepared hand-outs listing all the CHAS GP clinics in Choa Chu Kang area to help you choose your family doctor. Let us not forget that we also need to play our part in adopting a healthy lifestyle, so that we can all live long and live well. For our CHAS partners, a big Thank You to you for helping us these many years to look after the well-being of our Singaporeans within the community.

15. On this note, I wish you all a great day ahead! Enjoy the Carnival. Thank you.

^[1] In 2014, we announced that CHAS beneficiaries have received more than $25 million in subsidies in 2013 for their medical and dental care.