Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

Last week (March 9), Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced that the country is working towards a model where each resident will see one regular general practitioner or polyclinic doctor for all his or her care needs. The doctor will work out a personalised care plan to help nip diseases in the bud and keep him or her out of the hospital as much as possible.

With this Healthier SG strategy, GPs will become the anchor of Singapore’s healthcare system as the country makes the shift from hospital-centric care to a more sustainable way of preventive care. 

From next year (2023), each resident will be invited to enrol with a primary care doctor such as a GP to work out a personalised care plan. The details still need to be worked out. The Government said it will consult stakeholders on this strategy, and provide more details in a white paper in the second half of the year.

In this episode, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo speaks with Adjunct Associate Professor Tan Tze Lee, a family physician and the president of the College of Family Physicians, Singapore, to find out more about how this new strategy will affect the residents here.

Highlights (click/tap above):

01:19 How will enrolling with a family physician affect residents?

05:38 Do existing patients who see the polyclinics or hospitals have to switch to this new plan? 

09:02 What difference does this make if I am already going for regular check-ups?

14:10 How long will it take before we see results from this new scheme?

15:41 What would be the key challenge with this programme?

Produced by: Joyce Teo ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Fa'izah Sani and Teo Tong Kai

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai

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