SINGAPORE - Singapore's healthcare receipts already exceed $9 billion and is rising faster than GDP, with a certainty it will rise even further.In the medium-term, the country will have to find new ways to fund healthcare spending.
PM Lee's comments come as the Health Ministry said it will take a pause to plan future healthcare needs after the next public general hospital opens in Woodlands in 2022. On Saturday, PM Lee noted that Singapore spends less on healthcare than most other developed countries, yet has better outcomes. This is not easy to do because it is difficult to tell people that some treatments they want are not necessary or cost-effective, he added.
One way it is doing this is shifting to a more patient-centric, multi-disciplinary approach, he said. Patients will also get access to specialist services more easily, through tie-ups with the National Heart Centre, Singapore National Eye Centre and the National Cancer Centre, among others.