Singapore's Healthcare System

📷: Health Promotion Board (HPB)

In 2021, a survey by the Institute of Policy Studies on National Pride and Identity found that Singaporeans were most proud of Singapore’s healthcare system. Two years later in Aug 2023, this sentiment was shared by a Straits Times reader, “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, our healthcare system has been facing unprecedented stress and challenges, and yet it is able to excel.” This was echoed by a foreign freelance writer who has been residing in Singapore since 1992. In his ChannelNewsAsia commentary published in Jul 2023, he said, “It’s a delight to live in a nation with superb healthcare.”

Singapore’s healthcare system has come a long way since 1821, when Singapore’s oldest hospital, Singapore General Hospital, was just a wooden shed at Bras Basah to cater to injured European soldiers. From the 1800s to the first half of the 1900s, infectious disease outbreaks were rife and mortality rate was high. After Singapore attained independence in 1965, it was during this period that western medicine and medical practices gradually took over home remedies to become the primary means of healthcare for the majority of the population, and health outcomes started to improve.

In 2000, World Health Organisation ranked Singapore sixth best globally. Since then, Singapore has consistently ranked among the countries with the best healthcare systems. In 2023, Singapore ranked first in the health component of the Legatum Prosperity Index by British think tank Legatum Institute, which measures the extent to which people are healthy and have access to the services needed to maintain good health. Singaporeans’ life expectancy is among the world’s highest - global life expectancy was at 71.1 years in 2022, Singapore’s was at 83. Singapore has delivered good, cost-effective health outcomes given what we spent – four percent of our Gross Domestic Product on healthcare which is lower compared to the United States’ and the United Kingdom’s 17 and 10 percent of their GDP.

Singapore’s excellent healthcare system was established based on the belief and practice that all Singaporeans should keep active and healthy, and have access to affordable and quality healthcare should we need it. We are a “super-aged” society – by 2030, nearly one in four Singaporeans will be a senior. To ensure that all Singaporeans are well-protected against ill health and large medical bills, the government set up four lines of defence in the provision of healthcare:

• Community Health Assist Scheme which provide heavy subsidies for treatments and medications;

• MediShield Life which protects Singaporeans against unexpected healthcare costs;

• Medisave – compulsory savings for a rainy day; and,

• Safety nets such as MediFund and Elderfund for those with financial difficulties.

This approach is complemented by actively encouraging Singaporeans to lead a healthy lifestyle and proactively manage our health needs through the #HealthierSG initiative. Singapore’s commitment to providing quality, affordable and accessible healthcare is so strong and the practice of healthy living so widespread that no wonder our healthcare system is so widely #TakenforGranted by Singaporeans.

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