On Tuesday (Oct 4), a nearly four-hour debate took place in Parliament about a motion over the Healthier SG White Paper; the government’s multi-year reform plan of the healthcare sector which concentrates more on preventive care rather than acute care.
A number of Members of Parliament (MPs) raised a number of issues concerning the Healthier SG scheme, which involves enrolling Singapore residents with a family doctor for their primary care.
MP He Ting Ru (Workers’ Party – Sengkang GRC) expressed concerns that while the scheme would thrust family doctors to the heart of the country’s healthcare system, these physicians should not be faced with longer working hours and unfairly burdened with too much work.
Her full speech can be viewed in the video below:
Ms He asked how the Ministry of Health is planning to meet the need for 3,500 family doctors by 2030 and if it considers lowering the barrier for foreign-trained Singaporean doctors to come back and work here.
“At the end of the Financial Year 2021, the membership of the College of Family Physicians Singapore registered just over 2,600 doctors providing primary care, of which there are approximately 1,600 doctors holding a graduate diploma of family medicine qualification. MOH previously estimated that in order to implement our plans, 3,500 family physicians are required by 2030 – effectively doubling the number in just seven years.
Could the Minister clarify if these targets remain valid? Given the long time needed for doctors to be trained – five years of medical school in Singapore, plus the five years to serve the bond – would the Ministry clarify how it intends for such an increase in numbers to be catered for by 2030?
And could we look at lowering the barriers for foreign-trained Singaporean doctors to come home to practice and serve communities back home here in Singapore?”
The Sengkang GRC MP also brought up the issue of mental health, a topic she has previously been vocal about.
“Not having adequate treatment or support while suffering from mental health conditions has an impact on all aspects of one’s life, ranging from economic output to physical health,” she said, asking if services targeted toward mental health could be included in Healthier SG.
“So it is important that our plans to address mental health illnesses are firmly anchored within the primary health care system,” she added, noting that mental health protocols are not among the first twelve protocols to be rolled out to family doctors.
Ms He underlined the need to make sure that doctors and other healthcare professionals should be given sufficient training and support to help patients who experience mental health issues.
She also said that the scheme’s referral simple should be fairly straightforward and that healthcare professionals must have references that are easily accessible so that they know what is available for their patients. /TISG
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