New scheme to help defray children's healthcare bills

SINGAPORE: From March, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will set aside S$8 million annually under a new Medifund Junior scheme to help needy Singaporeans defray their children's healthcare bills.

The scheme, applicable to children aged below 18, will require an additional S$10 million in Medifund assistance over 5 years, to supplement current funds. The ministry will review whether the amount is sufficient thereafter, said the MOH in a statement.

Needy families will be able to draw on Medifund Junior for help with their children's healthcare bills at public hospitals, said the ministry.

"By creating Medifund Junior, MOH can target more financial assistance for sick children from needy families. This will also help defray costs incurred by children diagnosed with congenital or neonatal conditions before 1 March 2013," said the ministry.

From March, MediShield coverage for congenital and neonatal conditions will kick in. All Singaporean newborns born on or after March 1 will be covered, without having to be assessed for pre-existing conditions, if their parents do not opt them out.

All existing policyholders will automatically receive coverage for any congenital conditions diagnosed on or after March 1, 2013. This extension will be implemented together with previous MediShield enhancements announced earlier.

To support Singaporean families pay for their child's MediShield premiums and defray other healthcare expenses, the government will set up a Medisave account and deposit a one-off Medisave grant of S$3,000 over two tranches for all newborn Singapore citizens born on or after August 26, 2012.

The KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) puts up on average 400 Medifund applications a month.

95 per cent of these applications are usually successful with families getting assistance from Medifund.

However, as Medifund is targeted at lower income families, the middle income families are usually left out as they don't meet the criteria.

"Some of them, even though they are from the middle income families, some of the bills can be quite costly. So for these large bills, we are giving the hospitals more flexibility under the Medifund Junior to be able to help these middle income families," said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong.

Healthcare institutions will assess the out-of-pocket expenses by the needy families and their family resources before offering them assistance under this new fund.

Needy children diagnosed with congenital or neonatal conditions before 1 March will also be able to use the new fund to help defray costs. These include stays at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at KKH.

Ms Mavis Teo, a medical social worker at KKH, said: "For example, a couple with a newborn child with congenital problems and this is a dual-income family with an average income of about S$4,000...if (the child stays) in NICU and it costs them about S$20,000 to S$30,000, we would be able to help them to cover some of the medical expenses for the NICU stay."

For those with more serious premature cases or those with neonatal or congenital conditions, hospital stay may range between one month and six months, and on the average bills can be anything from S$10,000 to S$60,000.

In extremely rare cases, babies with severe complications needing multi-stage surgeries and treatment, medical expenses may even exceed S$100,000.

The hospital's NICU, which also treats premature babies, will be expanded.

Doctors at the KKH say that its NICU is usually run at full capacity due to the rising number of admissions in the past few years.

As such, the unit will undergo renovation and see its bed capacity rise from the current 24 to 40 in the next five years, making it the largest facility in the region.

Associate Professor Samuel Rajadurai, a doctor at KKH, said the incidence of premature babies has gone up by 10 to 13.5 per cent over 20 years.

A number of factors have led to this phenomenon, including the older age of mothers and better monitoring of mothers during their pregnancies.

The hospital also plans to expand its outpatient as well as ambulatory services and increase the number of beds.

Contact me now to find out more about the new changes in the MediShield Plan

MediShield to be tweaked from March next year

SINGAPORE: The national medical insurance scheme, MediShield, will be tweaked from March next year to provide better coverage for the elderly.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Friday that it is raising the limit on the amount that can be withdrawn from Medisave, a national medical savings scheme, to fully cover the premiums for basic MediShield schemes.

Those who are between 76 and 80 years old can withdraw a higher amount of S$1,000, compared with the current S$800; while those who are above 80 years old can withdraw up to S$1,200, compared with S$1,150 currently.

The age limit for MediShield will also be changed.

The government will scrap the maximum entry age of 75 so that more elderly people who are healthy but not insured can get insurance coverage.

At the same time, it will raise the maximum coverage age to 90 years, from the current 85.

Coverage will be extended to inpatient psychiatric treatment at S$100 per day, up to 35 days per year.

The coverage limit per policy year will be raised from S$50,000 to S$70,000, and the lifetime limit will be higher at S$300,000, compared with the current S$200,000.

In addition, coverage will be extended to short-stay wards in Emergency Departments.

Other adjustments include increasing the deductibles for Class C bills from S$1,000 to S$1500, and S$1,500 to S$2,000 for Class B2 bills.

The deductible is the amount of a hospital bill that patients have to pay before claiming insurance.

MOH decided on these changes after it consulted the public in July and August on ways to make MediShield more inclusive.

It is still looking into another suggestion on using MediShield to cover outpatient treatment, saying this involves a major shift in MediShield's focus and could have significant impact on the premiums.

MOH tackling health-care costs

SINGAPORE - Health-care affordability is one of the key issues the Ministry of Health (MOH) is tackling, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday.

He also said that MOH is working out the details for the creation of a Medisave account for each newborn baby, with an initial sum to be deposited by the Government.

"This will give Singaporeans greater peace of mind," said Mr Gan, who was speaking at the National Medical Excellence Awards (NMEA) 2012 held at the Hilton hotel.

The Medisave move was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the National Day Rally on Sunday.

Mr Gan stressed that the Government will have to work closely with all Singaporeans, health-care professionals and institutions - in both the private and public sectors - to ensure that health care remains of high quality, and is accessible and affordable.

In his speech, Mr Gan also lauded the achievements and contributions of the NMEA award recipients. He said: "They are the role models who will inspire succeeding generations as they strive to achieve tomorrow's excellence."

The national-level awards are an initiative of the National Medical Research Council, set up in 1994 to oversee the development and advancement of medical research here.

Mr Gan said: "Accolades like world rankings will pass, but your compassion and concern for the patient will last a lifetime."

Relief after $180,000 bill worry

SINGAPORE - When her daughter-in-law gave birth to quadruplets last month, she worried about how the family was going to pay the staggering medical bills ($180,000 and counting) incurred as a result of the births.

But there is some relief after the Ministry of Health (MOH) made an exception and allowed Madam Lily Lim, 52, and her husband to use their Medisave savings to help pay their grandchildren's bills.

Madam Lim's daughter-in-law, Ms Jennifer Pan, 28 (pictured), gave birth by caesarean section at Gleneagles Hospital last month to what is believed to be Singapore's first set of quadruplets since 2008.

Ms Pan,an assistant treasury manager at acommodities trading company here, had taken fertility medication, but did not undergo in-vitro fertilisation, The Straits Times reported.

Janessa, Joelle, Jovianne and Kingsley (the only boy) were born on July 19.

In a letter to The Straits Times forum, published last Wednesday, Madam Lim said: "Having quadruplets was a joyous occasion, but it was marred by the financial hole it created."

She said the hospital bill totalled some $180,000 and explained that the babies were born premature and have to stay in the hospital for almost two months in the intensive care unit (ICU).

The ICU charges alone were reported as $1,000 for each baby a day.

The bills also include an estimated $25,000 for Ms Pan's month-long hospital stay and an obstetrician fee of $23,000.

Madam Lim added: "My husband and I wanted to help them by dipping into our Medisave account, but the Central Provident Fund blocked it with the reply that grandchildren could not use their grandparents' Medisave."

Unique circumstances

Madam Lim is the founder of a confinement nanny agency.

She and her husband have about $90,000 in their Medisave savings, Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported. The babies' father, Mr Phua Jiun Wei, 28, runs the agency.

In response to media queries, an MOH spokesman said it has "agreed to allow the grandparents to use their Medisave to help with the bills, considering their family's unique circumstances".

The spokesman said parents can use their Medisave to pay for their child's hospitalisation expenses.

But as elderly persons tend to incur more medical expenses than younger persons, grandparents cannot use their Medisave to help pay for their grandchildren's medical bills.

This is to ensure that the grandparents themselves have sufficient Medisave savings for their own hospitalisation needs, especially after retirement.

The spokesman said: "In circumstances such as in Madam Lim's case, where the grandparents have requested for their Medisave to be used, we will assess such requests on a case-by-case basis.

"We understand that the family has also appealed to Gleneagles Hospital for assistance for the babies' hospital and doctor charges."

The spokesman said that all hospitals are required to provide financial advice to their patients regarding their treatment.

"Patients are encouraged to choose a care setting most appropriate to their financial situation.

"In the restructured hospitals, Singaporeans can receive subsidies of up to 80 per cent of their total bill, and can also be assisted by Medifund or other hospital assistance schemes if they still face difficulties in settling their bill."

Ministry in touch with family

MOH understands the concerns faced by Madam Lim and her family, and has been in touch with them, the spokesman said.

When contacted, Madam Lim declined comment.

Dr Lam Pin Min, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, told The New Paper that he was glad to know that MOH has exercised flexibility according to the special circumstance in this particular case.

"I do understand the anxiety caused in cases where hospitalisation bills can be hefty and the helplessness in relieving the financial burden although there are significant amounts in the Medisave accounts," he said.

"The restriction on the use of Medisave needs to be reviewed regularly to commensurate with the medical needs of Singaporeans.

"However, we need to exercise caution as a too rapid liberalisation may result in premature depletion of members' Medisave savings," he said.

$14k bill shock for retiree after operation

SINGAPORE - Retired businessman Steven Choo, 60, underwent angioplasty at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) to unclog blood vessels in his legs last November.
 
Mr Choo, who is diabetic, underwent the procedure - with "balloons" and stents used to unblock the arteries - which prevented gangrene from spreading from his toes.

But the successful operation marked the start of another round of problems for him. On the day he was discharged from hospital, he received a shock: His medical bill came up to $14,501, but Medisave and MediShield would cover only $900 and $810, respectively, or $1,710 combined.

SGH also told him he would not get his $6,620 deposit back, and that he still owed it $5,381, Mr Choo told my paper in an interview. The remaining $790 was covered by a government grant.

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board told him that the Medisave claim submitted by the hospital did not indicate a surgical procedure.

This meant he could not claim the full amount he should have been entitled to: $3,050.

Insurance company AIA, which handles his MediShield account, told him likewise.

Mr Choo then hand-delivered a four-page report from his doctor to the CPF Board, explaining that angioplasty is a surgical procedure. But then he got another shock.

He said: "CPF Board wrote to tell me that they're not paying because (the angioplasty) was not done in a 'proper' place."

The CPF Board's letter, dated Feb 8, read: "Only surgical procedures performed in a properly equipped operating theatre... are Medisave claimable."

The head of SGH's diagnostic radiology department, Associate Professor Tay Kiang Hiong, told my paper that Mr Choo's angioplasty had been planned to take place in an operating theatre. But his operation was moved to an angiography suite - where angioplasty is also typically conducted.

Unhappy

This was because "there were urgent and complicated cases that needed to be performed in the operating theatre", said Prof Tay.

Mr Choo then sent an e-mail message to the CPF Board arguing that he had been penalised because of where his operation was conducted.

The case remained in limbo for three months, said Mr Choo, who wrote to the CPF Board repeatedly, only to receive the same reply each time that his appeal was under review.

In May, the Ministry of Health (MOH) sent him an e-mail message informing him that his appeal had been successful.

Not long after, Mr Choo's MediShield claim was also approved.

AIA told my paper that the claim was reviewed twice because there were inaccuracies in the initial claim.

Late last month, SGH called Mr Choo to tell him that both Medisave and MediShield amounts due to him had been paid out fully.

He was also entitled to a $638 refund from his deposit.

Six months later, the problem has been resolved but it has left Mr Choo irate. He said: "If I did not fight for it, where would I get the money from?"

Mr Choo added that he hopes that others would not have to be put through the same ordeal.

An MOH spokesman told my paper that angioplasty typically takes place in operating theatres.

As Mr Choo's angioplasty took place in an angiography suite, it "was not deemed a surgical procedure".

This is why SGH did not submit a Medisave claim for the procedure, said the spokesman.

The spokesman added: "We have since clarified with SGH that an angioplasty procedure... can be submitted for Medisave claims, even if it took place in the angiography suite."

MediShield revamp: Premiums to rise but better coverage for S'poreans

The national health insurance scheme, MediShield, will soon be expanded to cover Singaporeans and permanent residents who are currently excluded.

The limits on how much can be claimed from MediShield will also be raised.

To support the enhancements, premiums for MediShield will be increased.

The majority of policyholders - those aged 65 and below - can expect to pay an additional $10 or less per month.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced these changes, which are set to take effect in the first quarter of next year.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event at Tan Tock Seng Hospital yesterday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said of the changes: "We (are taking) the opportunity to see where we can enhance the coverage, especially for those who are more vulnerable."

With the expanded coverage, MediShield will provide financial relief to older seniors, along with newly diagnosed mental patients who require inpatient psychiatric treatment.

The maximum age for MediShield coverage will be raised from the current limit of 85 to 90.

An Institute of Mental Health (IMH) spokesman called the expanded MediShield a "positive step" that will help relieve the financial burden of patients.

He explained: "Currently, patients have to rely on their own or their family's Medisave. Those who require prolonged or repeated hospitalisation will find it a drain on their resources."

MOH is also looking into the coverage of newborn babies with congenital conditions, or medical problems that exist at birth.

As there are mixed views on the issue, MOH is seeking public feedback.

Of the 40,000 babies born every year in Singapore, about 860 reportedly have a serious birth defect.
Mrs Sylvia Mun, KK Women's and Children's Hospital's chief medical social worker, said: "One of the frustrations (that parents of such children) face is that when they try to buy health insurance for their newborn baby, they are often rejected and they worry about how they can continue to manage the cost of treating their baby."

She revealed that for a smaller number of "more-serious premature (birth) cases", the average medical bills can range from $10,000 to $60,000.

Medical expenses may even exceed $100,000, in the rare cases of babies with severe complications, as well as for those who need multi-stage operations and treatment.

To help patients with large medical bills, MOH will bump up the total amount one can claim, in a policy year and for life, from MediShield.

The policy-year limit for claims will be raised from $50,000 to $70,000, and the lifetime limit will be raised from $200,000 to $300,000.

Patients staying in Class C and Class B2 hospital wards will have to pay a greater initial amount before they are able to make claims from MediShield.

This amount forked out by patients, known as a deductible, will be raised from $1,000 to $1,500 for Class C wards, and from $1,500 to $2,000 for Class B2 wards.

On concerns over higher premiums and deductibles, Mr Gan assured Singaporeans that financial aid is in place, such as a one-time Medisave top-up of up to $400.

MOH to strengthen efforts to provide palliative care to more patients

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) will be strengthening efforts to provide home care for patients going through the last stages of their lives.

With the prevalence of chronic diseases, the ministry is looking into extending palliative care beyond traditional cancer care to benefit more non-cancer patients.

Currently, MOH is funding a S$12 million programme for over 3,000 end-organ failure patients to receive structured home palliative care over a five-year period.

A three-year pilot project for integrated home palliative care is also already underway.

Started in February last year, the project involving Dover Park Hospice and Tan Tock Seng Hospital sees patients being directly admitted to the hospital if they require higher-intensity care.

The project costs S$3 million and is funded by the Tote Board Community Healthcare Fund. It has seen more than 100 patients.

As patient's records are shared, such an arrangement helps smoothen the transition of patients across care settings and minimise visits to the emergency departments.

If successful, such a pilot project could be extended to other hospices.

Speaking at the Singapore Palliative Care Conference on Saturday morning, Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong, said the majority of patients prefer to be cared for at home towards the last phase of their lives.

"Families sometimes misconceive that palliative care patients can only be adequately cared for in hospitals or inpatient hospices. This is not true. Even when the disease is advanced, it is still possible to look after patients very well at home if the necessary expertise and services are made available," he said.

Other areas of home palliative care to be strengthened are the training of caregivers, and providing better bereavement support in the community.

HCA Hospice Care says it will be enhancing their training curriculum for caregivers so that training methods are standardised.

In January this year, a committee was set up to study the recommendations for a National Strategy for Palliative Care.

The committee is looking at service development, education and training and standards of palliative care.

Girl, 8, who visited Singapore dies of H5N1

An Indonesian girl who travelled with her family to Singapore died from the H5N1 avian flu shortly after returning to Indonesia.

The 8-year-old developed a fever a day before her trip to Singapore and visited a doctor here.

She was here with her family for six days from June 19 to June 24 with her mother and some relatives, according to details released by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to the media.

She stayed in a hotel here, but the ministry declined to reveal which hotel it was. Her condition worsened after she returned and she was diagnosed with the avian flu on June 29.

The child had reportedly carried freshly killed chickens with her father earlier last month, on June 12.

As a precautionary measure, the MOH has started contact tracing and hospitals have been alerted to the case.

Her aunt who resides and the general practitioner who treated her are both fine, reported The Straits Times.

Hospitals such as the National University Hospital said their emergency medicine departments have been alerted and will look out for patients with flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, chills, body ache, headache and vomiting.

There have been no local cases of H5N1 reported to MOH, and it said  chances of transmission between humans are extremely low.

She touched others with her strength

SINGAPORE - She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and doctors gave her only months to live.

Three times she proved them wrong, tackling the disease head-on with a grace that proved inspirational to everyone around her, including her three young daughters.

On Thursday morning, five years after she was first diagnosed, Ms Evelyn Teo Swee Lin's battle with the disease finally ended.

The 39-year-old died in Assissi Hospice, with husband Alan Yong and daughters Sarah, 12, Nicole, 10, and Vera, seven, by her side.

On Friday, at her wake at Eastwood Terrace, Mr Yong, 41, told The New Paper how his wife's blog (evelynfeels.blogspot.com) had inspired many.

Readers would comment that they were touched by her strength and faith, and that they learnt to cherish what they had in life.

The regional IT director for a UK company said: "They became her close personal friends. Some were cancer patients too, and she would visit them."

Ambassador 

Ms Teo, an ex-IT project manager, spoke openly about her illness through her blog, as a presenter with the Catholic marriage enrichment programme and as an ambassador of a National Healthcare Group (NHG) health awareness campaign.

Even while she was touching other people's lives, Ms Teo didn't forget about her loved ones.

Mr Yong spoke fondly about how he and his wife started writing love notes to each other in 2008, when they joined the Catholic programme Marriage Encounter.

The couple later became presenters for the programme.

Mr Yong has about 11 books filled with these notes. Ms Teo even kept a book each for their daughters.

The couple would pen their thoughts at the same time before exchanging books. And they would share excerpts with others at the marriage programme.

"Through her cancer experience, she was able to draw out what our struggles were as a couple," said Mr Yong.

"There were struggles with chemotherapy, end-of-life issues..."

The couple had been discussing such issues for a long time, Mr Yong said.

"But as the time draws nearer, emotion takes over. Things you talk about while your wife is healthy are different when she's sick."

Mr Yong said his wife was a determined person who lived her life in the manner she wanted.

She even planned her wake - for example, on how she would be clad in her favourite Nonya dress.

Mr Yong said he was making good on her request to have a rock band at her wake: the band will play her favourite songs on Sunday, including songs from Snow Patrol and Coldplay.

The band request was just one item on Ms Teo's bucket list, a catalogue of things to do before you die, drawn up when the couple found out in 2009 that her cancer had returned after a year and had spread to her lungs.

Another item on the list was a trip to Europe: Rome, Venice, Barcelona, Paris and Lourdes.

Said Mr Yong: "Doctors said she had six months to live, so we left the kids with our parents and went for the trip of our lives."

Since the couple only had a simple ceremony when they were married in 1999, their friends threw them a big church party to fulfil a third item: To be married in church.

Life as a couple aside, Ms Teo kept busy in her last years.

In 2010, she was approached by NHG to be an ambassador for its "Caring It Forward" campaign, in support of people passing on good health practices.

Photos of Ms Teo and her family were put up around MRT stations and she was interviewed on radio and television talk shows.

She also contributed a recipe to the Nanyang Technological University's "Sharing Plates" cookbook project, which contains anecdotes and recipes for cancer patients.

Mr Yong said that his wife had prepared their daughters well for her death.

Said Mr Yong: "We didn't hide the truth from them, but said it in a way they would understand.

"As for her projects, Mummy did them as deposits into the memory of her children."

He added: "To achieve what she did within a short period of time was amazing. For me, I was proud and privileged to have married her.

"All I did was go along for the ride."

Regular screening, early diagnosis important

From 2006 to 2010, 51,657 cases of cancer were diagnosed among Singapore residents.

Of these, 25,087 (48.6 per cent) affected men and 26,570 (51.4 per cent) women, while 12,680 men and 10,243 women died from the disease.

Colorectal cancer was the most common cancer in men, but lung cancer had the highest mortality rate. For women, breast cancer was the most common and had the highest mortality rates.

Dr Wong Seng Weng, medical director and consultant medical oncologist at The Cancer Centre, said the three top cancers for which screening is encouraged are breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer.

As many as eight out of 10 breast cancer cases may be completely cured if diagnosed early, he said.

Ministry of Health recommends women to start screening for breast cancer when they reach 40. A mammogram is recommended every two years for women 50 years and above.

Men and women 50 years and older are advised to go for regular screening for colorectal cancer, through either a screening colonoscopy every 10years, or an annual stool analysis.

Women should also be screened for cervical cancer, said Dr Wong. Sexually active women above 25 years old should go for pap smears every three years, the Ministry of Health recommends.

Hand, foot and mouth disease cases hit all-time high

A record-high number of children - 1,590 - came down with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) for the week ended April 28.

The number of infections diagnosed weekly has stayed above what is considered the 780-cases-a-week epidemic level for almost three months.

But although several children are warded at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH), none of them is critically ill.

The HFMD strain now circulating in Singapore is a mild one, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Healthcare 2020 for population demands

SINGAPORE - To help Singapore cope with its rapidly ageing and growing population, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong unveiled the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan yesterday.

During the Committee of Supply debate, Mr Gan highlighted measures to deal with challenges in the health-care sector, such as the shortage of hospital beds and the need for more public health-care professionals.

On the issue of manpower, Mr Gan spoke of the need to "retain and attract high-calibre individuals".

So, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will be rolling out a more competitive pay framework over the next two years, at the cost of $200 million.

The new framework will be implemented in phases and doctors will, on average, see an increase in total compensation of around 20 per cent by 2014.

Phase One will commence next month, and doctors will start to receive their pay raise according to their job levels.

Associate consultants in hospitals will get an increase equivalent to 20 per cent of their base salary, while consultant family physicians in polyclinics will get a 10 per cent raise.

Doctors will receive further increases when the framework is fully implemented in 2014.
Dentists' pay will also be adjusted.

Nurses, pharmacists and allied health professions will also get a one-time base-pay increase of between 4 and 17 per cent from next month.

Those in senior positions will have a 8 to 13 per cent base-pay increase.

Mr Gan added that 20,000 more health-care professionals are needed by 2020, as health- care facilities expand.

To help meet this demand, MOH will raise student intakes at medical institutes here, so as to boost the number of home- grown health-care practitioners.

The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, the third medical school here, will open next year with an initial intake of 50 students. This number will eventually grow to 150.

It is expected to boost the number of locally trained doctors to 500.

The higher student intake will also be extended to dentistry, nursing and pharmacy.

The dentistry intake will increase from 48 to 80, nursing from 1,700 to 2,700 and pharmacy from 160 to 240.

Efforts to attract back overseas-trained Singaporeans will also be stepped up by extending the pre-employment grant for medical students to those studying dentistry in recognised universities.

Qualified foreign health-care professionals will continue to be recruited to supplement the local health-care workforce.

Health-care infrastructure here will be ramped up, with plans to increase the number of acute- and community-hospital beds by 3,700 by 2020.

By then, acute-hospital bed numbers are expected to increase by over 30 per cent or 1,900, and community-hospital beds will increase to 2,600.

These beds will come from the new hospitals which will be constructed across the country.

These include Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, which is scheduled to open in 2014, and community hospitals in Yishun and Jurong, which will be ready by 2015.

Mr Gan said that the "increase in community hospitals will allow more stable patients to receive the appropriate care in a less-costly setting".

"At the same time, it will relieve the general hospitals and allow them to focus on more critically ill patients."

Long-term care services, such as those provided by nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities, will be more than doubled by 2020.

Mr Gan also noted the importance of tapping on the private sector to ease the hospital-bed crunch.

The MOH has reached an in-principle agreement to lease beds from Parkway East Hospital and will enter into a memorandum of understanding with Raffles Hospital for it to help take on the load of subsidised patients from public hospitals.

"This can be a win-win situation for the private sector too as their capacity can be better utilised," said Mr Gan.