SINGAPORE – The rebranding of the country’s sole psychiatric hospital in April 2027 is by no means a cosmetic change, says the Institute of Mental Health’s (IMH) chief executive Jamie Mervyn Lim.
It signals a broader mandate, with IMH playing a bigger leadership role in coordinating care in the community so that people can easily access help, while those in recovery can return to the community upon discharge rather than being institutionalised, he said.
“So with the name change, it is not about doing the same old, same old just under a different banner,” Lim said in a recent interview, his first since assuming the role nine months ago.
“The mandate has clearly expanded as a national centre.”
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had, in his Oct 10 World Mental Health Day message, announced that IMH would be renamed the National Centre for Mental Health in 2027, and expanded by 2040, in a clear signal that mental health is a part of fundamental healthcare for the nation.
Lim said the institute’s national role is to lead and work across healthcare clusters, government agencies and community partners to achieve coordinated support across the full spectrum of mental health issues and efforts, from mental well-being to complex mental illnesses.
This corresponds with the four-tiered care model in Singapore’s national mental healthcare framework, where interventions start with mental wellness at the lowest Tier 1 through to high-acuity care at Tier 4.
With mental health firmly on the radar of the Health Ministry, IMH is being reshaped into an anchor for a whole-of-nation care network.
“As a national centre, we now have to take on the lens of a national role,” Lim said.
IMH CEO Jamie Mervyn Lim said that its rebranding is by no means a cosmetic change.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Prior to joining IMH, he was the CEO of Ren Ci Hospital from 2023 to 2025, and the chief operating officer at Tan Tock Seng Hospital from 2015 to 2022.
“Taking on that kind of responsibility doesn’t mean that we will be the service provider, but it means that we will have to play a (bigger) leadership role in trying to coordinate, match supply to demand… and see how we can optimise the system so that persons in recovery can find meaning back in the community rather than being institutionalised.”
Many helping hands, but care is fragmented
Today, IMH is the only psychiatric hospital in Singapore, with a specialised inpatient facility. In the community, there are many organisations, particularly in the social service sector, providing different mental health programmes and services.
“The question is, how do we better coordinate all these services so that we can string together a more coherent service,” Lim said. “Many helping hands are good, but your many helping hands must be coordinated. Otherwise, everybody is doing good things, but doing their own good thing in isolation.”
Leading the move to coordinate care, IMH established an office on Oct 1 that brings community programmes, partnerships and outreach efforts together under one team.
Over the last six months, IMH has gathered various social service agencies, public healthcare institutions and government agencies to discuss how to uplift the mental health ecosystem.
In September, it held a retreat where it met 122 participants from 34 organisations to explore where the gaps are today, what the aspirations are for Singapore’s mental health ecosystem, and how partners can better coordinate care. Lim said it was the first of many such conversations to come.
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