SGGP
According to the Strait Times, with positive feedback from the people, Singapore continues to implement and plan to expand the Healthier SG program to improve the effectiveness of the preventive healthcare system.
Accordingly, from November, citizens and permanent residents (PR) aged 40-59 will be invited to register for the Healthier SG program. Statistics show that the population in this age group is about 1 million people. Statistics from the Ministry of Health (MOH) show that since July, 400,000 citizens and permanent residents have registered for Healthier SG.
There are currently about 1,022 polyclinics out of 1,200 clinics under the Community Health Support Programme participating in the programme. To encourage more people, especially those aged 65 and above, to sign up, MOH deployed Healthier SG ambassadors to various community touchpoints from 20 October to 1 December. With the Healthier SG roadshows concluding in November, MOH continued its outreach by deploying additional mobile teams of Healthier SG ambassadors to existing nursing homes and community-level events. Meanwhile, the programme registration branches at all 22 designated polyclinics will continue to operate.
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Singaporeans join Healthier SG |
Healthier SG is Singapore’s strategy to focus on preventive care and empower individuals to take steps towards better health care with the support of family clinics and community partners. With Healthier SG, the Ministry of Health aims to shift the focus from “sickness care” to “preventive health care”.
The program provides free annual health checks, vaccinations and nationally recommended health screenings. The government supports participating family doctors by providing an annual service fee based on their patients’ health risk profiles. The government will also provide one-off grants to family doctors to offset the costs of implementing information technology, which facilitates the sharing of notes, clinical data and tracking of patient outcomes.
This is also part of the Singapore Government’s efforts to address two major challenges facing the country – an ageing population and a rising trend of chronic diseases. By 2030, Singapore is expected to have a quarter of its population over the age of 65. Meanwhile, the proportion of people with chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol is also on the rise, accounting for 32% and 37% of the total population, respectively. Before implementing the programme, the Singapore Government consulted the public and found that one of the main concerns of the public was the cost of regular screening.
The government is addressing this concern by providing subsidies to people with chronic diseases to help them buy affordable medicines. People have the right to choose their family doctor; they can change doctors up to four times in the first two years of registration and once a year thereafter.
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