SPEECH BY PROFESSOR KENNETH MAK, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, AT THE 22ND ASIA PACIFIC MEDICAL EDUCATION CONEFERENCE 2025

Professor Chong Yap Seng, Dean, National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Professor Dato’ Dr Yang Faridah Abdul Aziz, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya

Dr Dujeepa Samarasekera, Chair, APMEC 2025 Organising Committee

Distinguished speakers, guests, and participants.

Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to be here today at the 22^nd Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference organised by the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

2.               For international participants, I would first like to extend a warm welcome to Singapore. This morning, we have gathered here healthcare educators from more than 40 countries, providing an opportunity for all of us to connect, learn, and share our respective experiences, challenges, and successes with one another. This year’s theme – “Developing a Holistic Healthcare Practitioner for a Sustainable Future" is visionary and timely. Today, we stand at a critical juncture where the demand for care is escalating rapidly, yet the resources we have are finite. This dual reality must compel us to rethink how we educate and train the next generation of healthcare practitioners.

3.               What does it mean to deliver holistic practice? How do we train holistic healthcare practitioners? How does holistic care support sustainability?

The Holistic Healthcare Practitioner

4.               The responsibility before us is clear – we are in an urgent need of a future generation of practitioners that go beyond clinical competence to embrace a broader vision of care that involves patients in the decision-making process, resource stewardship and a deep understanding of the societal and individual factors shaping health outcomes, and this would be a holistic healthcare practitioner.

5.               The term “holism” refers to the theory that all parts of a whole are intimately interconnected. When applied to health, holism refers to treating the whole person – taking into account more than just the physical symptoms of disease or injury, but also focusing on one’s mind, body, and spirit, with emotions.

6.               As healthcare professionals, we should strive to deliver healthcare appropriate to each patient’s needs, and in delivering care, we have to consider underlying life factors or issues. For instance, a patient who is not compliant with care may be struggling with mental or social factors, and we may have to address these factors to be able to effectively treat the patient. We should also consider involving patients in the clinical decision-making process. This shared decision-making not only fosters self-efficacy and empowerment among our patients, but has been established to result in sustained improvements in health outcomes by transforming patients into active partners in their own care journey. While this may require more effort in the initial stages of treatment, but by dealing with the underlying issues, this could eventually lead to fewer medical visits and better outcomes for the patient in the long run, thereby optimising the use of healthcare resources.

7.               The holistic healthcare practitioner is also expected to be a resource steward in the face of escalating demands on the healthcare system. The practitioner must be able to deliver evidence-based care and avoid the overuse, underuse or misuse of healthcare resources. Here in Singapore, we refer to this as ‘Appropriate and Value-Based Care’ or AVBC. Therefore, the holistic healthcare practitioner should not only champion care that is clinically appropriate, but also efficient and creates value for patients and the healthcare system.

Addressing the Challenges in Healthcare

8.               The predominant challenge of our times is that of a rapidly ageing population. Singapore is on the path to becoming a super-aged society by 2026, with over a fifth of our population aged 65 years and above. This is happening globally as well, with the number of people aged over 64 growing faster than all other age groups. A rapidly ageing population has the potential to overload the capacity of our healthcare system. While we may be able to build more and more infrastructure, and recruit and train more manpower to combat the challenge, it is not a sustainable solution as we will run up against resource constraints at the system level at some point. Therefore, aside from providing healthcare to treat each patient’s medical conditions, it is also more critical than ever to adopt a holistic approach, moving from providing care in hospitals, and going upstream to provide preventive care in the community.

Providing Care Beyond Hospitals to the Community

9.               We have put in place policies and initiatives to change the way care is delivered here in Singapore, and to encourage care within the community. One example is Healthier SG which we launched in 2023. Under Healthier SG, we encourage all Singaporeans to adopt healthier lifestyles, starting with enrolment with a family doctor that they can go to for their regular health screenings, to obtain advice on eating healthily and staying active, as well as to help manage chronic conditions and treat common illnesses, therefore providing holistic healthcare for our people and managing healthcare demand in the acute settings.

10.           Another example of how we have adopted the holistic healthcare approach is the Mobile Inpatient Care-at-Home initiative, or MIC@Home for short, where clinically suitable patients have the option of receiving hospital-level care in their own homes instead of in a hospital ward. This model considers the mental and social factors that impact recovery by allowing patients to be cared for in the comfort of their own homes. Since mainstreaming MIC@Home from April 2024, the results show potential to achieving similar patient outcomes and relieving capacity constraints in hospitals, thereby also contributing to the sustainability of our healthcare system.

Evolving Methods of Care Delivery through Technology

11.           We are looking at utilising advancements in technology to expand healthcare capacity and enhance workforce capabilities. An example is, as the Dean has shared, the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which presents significant opportunities to deliver safe, clinically efficacious, and cost-effective healthcare across various domains. We are proactively identifying use cases for AI to enhance healthcare, and so putting in place safeguards and adapting regulations to facilitate them. We hope that this would encourage practitioners to adopt AI in tackling the challenges of today and tomorrow that are facing our healthcare system.

Promoting Appropriate and Value-Based Care in Education and Training

12.           In the face of rapid developments in how healthcare is delivered, the Ministry will be taking a proactive approach in equipping the next generation of healthcare practitioners with the skills to practice AVBC. We will be working with the medical schools to integrate AVBC principles into their curriculum, extending this to cover all other healthcare professionals, including PGY1 junior doctors and residency trainees. With this, the Ministry aspires to shape a generation of holistic healthcare practitioners who lead with compassion, wisdom, and a commitment to sustainable, patient-centred care.

Closing

13.           I looked at the programme of the APMEC, and it is heartening to see that the programmes over the next two days will spark many insightful conversations into the education of the holistic healthcare practitioner. As educators, we have the responsibility to use this knowledge to develop our learners holistically as persons and as the next generation of healthcare professionals.

14.           On that note, please do not forget to practise holistic care on yourselves. As Dr Dujeepa has shared on mindfulness and other social activities, they are all for ourselves and for well-being. We are all individually responsible for our own well-being. Just as airline emergency protocols dictate, do not forget to put on the oxygen mask on yourself before helping others. May everyone have a fruitful, inspiring and enjoyable conference ahead. Thank you very much.