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Source:
www.moh.gov.sg |
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Two new specialty centres for cancer and heart
disease |
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MOH is setting up two new specialty centres
for cancer and heart disease at the National University Hospital to meet
the rising demand for tertiary care in these specialties. |
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Currently, patients with cancer or heart
disease are treated in all hospitals, with the National Heart Centre (NHC)
and the National Cancer Centre (NCC) at the Outram Campus providing an
additional tertiary level of care. This model of healthcare delivery has
served us well. |
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First, it allows NHC and NCC to build up a
critical mass of patients and thus enables the doctors to sub-specialise
and achieve medical excellence. |
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Second, it enables Singaporeans to enjoy
high standards of medical care at the lowest possible cost through
better resource allocation. |
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Under this model, treatment procedures which
become routine and standard are moved downstream to departments in the
general hospitals, so that the national centres can focus their
resources on developing higher-end capabilities and treating patients
with greater complications. NHC and NCC have done well in this regard. |
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NHC is treating close to 50% of the new
heart patient referrals to the public hospitals and it handles high
volumes of coronary angioplasty and stent cases, cardiac surgeries and
other diagnostic procedures. |
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It has set the pace for many advances
in the treatment of cardiac disease, being the first to introduce
24-hour/365day emergency angioplasty for ongoing heart attack
patients, surgery and ablation of abnormal heart rhythms and
biventricular assist device for end-stage heart failure patients. |
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Last year, NHC handled almost 10,000
inpatient episodes. Its heart transplant patient survival rate is
also comparable to other established heart institutions overseas. |
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NCC has also acquired a regional
reputation as a centre of medical excellence with its
multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment. It has attracted a
significant clientele, with 125,000 outpatients last year. |
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With a critical mass of patientload,
NCC doctors have successfully developed medical subspecialties,
carried out clinical trials, and individualised medical care for
their patients. Many NCC doctors have also applied their knowledge
to their research work with very good results, and won recognition
from the international medical fraternity. |
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MOH will continue to invest in the NHC
and NCC to support their further development. Indeed, there are
immediate plans to rebuild the NHC as its current facility is
inadequate for its current level and intensity of work, whether in
patient care, education or research. |
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With continuing expansion and ageing
of the population, MOH will do more to gear up for our future
needs. |
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Cancer and heart disease are the top
two killers, with cancer taking 4000 lives in Singapore each year.
They will remain the major causes of death and morbidity. New
cancer cases are projected to increase from 9,000 per year to
13,000 by 2015. For cardiology, outpatient attendances are
projected to grow from 200,000 per year to 320,000 by 2015. We
must ramp up our capacity and capabilities to meet this rapidly
growing demand. |
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Now that NHC and NCC have acquired
critical mass and are fully established, MOH has decided to
develop a second tertiary centre in each of these specialties, as
the projected increase in patient-load will be able to support
such a development. Apart from improving efficiency through
healthy competition, it also provides choice for the patients. |
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The selection of NUH for the two new
specialty centres takes into account the fact that both
specialties already exist with substantial strength at the
hospital. MOH will inject additional resources to NUH to nurture
this development. |
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First, MOH will increase its annual
funding support to NUH at rates equivalent to its current support
level at NCC and NHC. This is in recognition of the higher
complexity of the cases treated at tertiary centres. |
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Second, some capital expenditure will
also be required to create additional clinics and diagnostic
resources. The details are being studied. |
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Ministry of Health
23 August 2007 |
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Source:
www.moh.gov.sg Press Release
26 Aug 2007 |
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FrontPage Edition: Sun 2 September 2007
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