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Shift towards a digital healthcare system inevitable: Experts

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Digitalisation also means patients must increasingly manage their own health

From patients having an ailment managed through the mobile phone to having their health information kept online, the shift towards a digital healthcare system is inevitable.

Healthcare experts made the point yesterday, adding that the change has been further cemented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at this year's Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress organised by the National Healthcare Group, the experts said the move towards digitalisation also means patients will have to increasingly manage their own health.

The three healthcare experts were speaking at Max Atria @ Singapore Expo during a morning panel discussion moderated by Straits Times senior health correspondent Salma Khalik.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Health, delivered the opening address at yesterday's event.

In his opening address, Professor Philip Choo, group chief executive of the National Healthcare Group, said technology in healthcare is used to maximise manpower or replace it, improve the experience of patients, and now, to also allow future patient populations to make good decisions.

"Technology is expensive, but manpower is even more expensive," added Prof Choo.

However, he said the key to a sustainable healthcare system in the country is for Singaporeans to own their own health.

The country is currently battling a wave of Covid-19 infections that is putting pressure on the healthcare system.

There were 1,534 patients with the virus warded across hospitals here yesterday.

With more than 80 per cent of the population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, home recovery has been the default arrangement as most infected patients now have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.

There has, however, been confusion on the ground over the programme, which was officially rolled out on Sept 18.

Singapore's director of medical services Kenneth Mak said: "We are moving progressively from the Government doing everything to the importance of self-accountability, self-responsibility, self-obligation and so on."

He added that self-testing using antigen rapid test kits will become the norm as Singapore moves away from polymerase chain reaction tests, which are more intrusive and take more time to produce results.

TELEHEALTH

Associate Professor Mak also echoed a point that other panellists made about the growing focus on technology in healthcare here, such as the use of telehealth. Telehealth refers to the use of telecommunications technologies to provide care and services from a distance.

Associate Professor Jeremy Lim, director of the Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation at the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, stressed that technology should fundamentally be about caring for patients better.

"It is not just for the patients under your direct care, but freeing up your resources so that you can care for more patients," said Prof Lim.

Hospitals will take months to clear backlog because of Covid

With many follow-up visits and elective operations postponed to accommodate the rising number of Covid-19 patients, it will take months for hospitals to catch up with the backlog.

Singapore's director of medical services, Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, said this yesterday during a panel discussion at this year's Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress, which is being held virtually.

Because of the surge in cases, a number of people with chronic diseases have not been able to go to hospitals for follow-up checks, he said. This was also the case last year when Singapore went into a circuit breaker period from April, when tough restrictions were in place.

"For a number of people, we have managed to mitigate concerns about not being able to come back to hospitals through the use of telehealth technologies. But that is not everyone," said Prof Mak.

"There will be a subgroup of patients who will come back with illnesses and diseases, perhaps worse off, because they have not come back to hospitals for regular follow-ups."

These patients may have skipped taking their medication or failed to refill their prescription, he said.

"There is the expectation that we will be quite busy looking after even these patients as well."

Hospitals have been busy looking after Covid-19 patients, but a number of them have outreach programmes to look after existing patients with chronic diseases, said Prof Mak.

"So, we hope that this pool of people with conditions worsening is not big, but nonetheless, catching up will take months," he said.

SURGERY

The pool includes patients requiring elective operations and those who have been waiting to return for day surgery and major surgery, he added.

"Even though we have prioritised those with urgent conditions and cancers, there are still a lot of patients who would have other conditions that require treatment in the hospital setting," said Prof Mak.

There were 1,534 patients with the virus warded here yesterday.

Professor Philip Choo, the group chief executive of the National Healthcare Group, which organised the congress, said Tan Tock Seng Hospital has seconded many staff to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

Additional manpower has also been roped in from other institutions such as the Institute of Mental Health and National Skin Centre, said Prof Choo.

"They have actually cut down their business-as- usual to quite a significant level," he added. - THE STRAITS TIMES

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