\n<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE \u2013 To provide people with more lower-cost private healthcare options, the Government intends to release a plot of land for a new, private not-for-profit acute hospital in eastern Singapore, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung announced on April 9. <\/p>\n
This would be the first land release for a private hospital in almost two decades, should plans proceed as expected, he noted. <\/p>\n
The proposed hospital would have a capacity of between 300 and 400 hospital beds, according to Mr Ong, who shared this at an event marking the 65th anniversary of Mount Alvernia Hospital \u2013 currently the Republic\u2019s only not-for-profit private acute hospital. <\/p>\n
The authorities aim to arrive at a decision on the tender in the second half of 2026, he said. <\/p>\n
His announcement comes after the Health Ministry in 2024 said it aimed to introduce a new not-for-profit private acute hospital model <\/span><\/a>to increase<\/span><\/a> Singapore\u2019s hospital bed capacity.<\/p>\n The move aims to address rising demand for healthcare services due to the country\u2019s ageing population, MOH said then. <\/p>\n Mr Ong said in 2024 that the model will be singularly\u00a0licensed\u00a0\u2013 meaning each hospital will be\u00a0issued\u00a0its own healthcare licence \u2013 to enhance governance.<\/p>\n The authorities aim to stipulate certain requirements in the tender documents to ensure lower costs, the minister said on April 9. <\/p>\n \u201cThe first is bill size restrictions, so that the hospital bills are a certain percentile of the market, and cannot lead the market,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n The second stipulation meanwhile would be to adopt a fixed-price land tender approach, he added. <\/p>\n \u201cUnder such a model, bidders would then compete not based on how much they are prepared to pay for the land, but other qualitative factors, such as their care model, cost efficiency, approach to recruiting and developing manpower, and their commitment and policies towards affordable healthcare,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n The last time the Government tendered land for a private hospital was in 2008. This was for the 333-bed Mount Elizabeth\u00a0Novena\u00a0Hospital, which opened in 2012 at a cost of $2 billion \u2013 some $1.25 billion of which was for the acquisition of the land. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the process, public healthcare also lost many good healthcare professionals to the private hospital, which was painful,\u201d Mr Ong said. <\/p>\n \u201cThat experience has made the Ministry of Health very cautious about having more private hospitals, and for that matter, very cautious about private hospitals expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n The strong coverage offered by private health insurance supports a private hospital operating model geared toward high-end care, fuelling further rises in private hospital costs, he noted. <\/p>\n More expensive private hospital charges and escalating private healthcare insurance premiums are driving patients to public hospitals, where typically more than 90 per cent of beds are occupied, Mr Ong said. <\/p>\n This is even as private hospitals are \u201cbarely half occupied\u201d, he noted, adding that it is neither desirable nor possible for public hospitals to be a monopoly. <\/p>\n Though 40 per cent of residents have healthcare insurance for private hospital care, half seek care in public hospitals, with the public sector taking in some 90 per cent of Singapore\u2019s patients. <\/p>\n Mr Ong noted this is contrary to a 1993 White Paper on Affordable Healthcare, which envisaged private acute hospitals making up to 30 per cent of hospital beds by 2010, so as to allow public hospitals to focus on providing care to the lower-to-middle income groups.<\/p>\n The Government has taken steps to narrow the cost gap, such as by tightening the design of private healthcare insurance riders to focus on providing assurance against large hospital bills, he added. <\/p>\n He noted however not all private hospitals are high-cost, citing the example of Mount Alvernia, where certain unsubsidised treatments and diagnostic scans can be more affordable than those at public hospitals. <\/p>\n This has helped exert competitive pressures on public hospitals, he noted. <\/p>\n \u201cBut we only have one Mount Alvernia, and we wish for more private hospitals like you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n MOH has been consulting many stakeholders on the not-for-profit private hospital, with \u201cencouraging responses\u201d from potential operators as well as enthusiastic donors and philanthropists, said Mr Ong. <\/p>\n \u201cI believe we can make this a good project that will strengthen the healthcare ecosystem, and involve many stakeholders outside of public healthcare,\u201d he said, noting though there are still \u201ca few important issues to address\u201d. <\/p>\n Mount Alvernia celebrated its 65th anniversary with a ceremony at its St Anne Mother & Child Centre, its dedicated 10-storey maternity and pediatric centre which opened in 2023. <\/p>\n The event also marked the official opening of its new day surgery centre \u2013 with four day-surgery operating theatres supporting ophthalmology and other surgical procedures \u2013 as well as an upgraded intensive care and high dependency unit, a 16-room critical care unit designed to provide specialised monitoring and treatment for patients with severe or complex medical conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe official opening of these new and upgraded facilities marks another step in our journey to meet the complex healthcare needs of our ageing population and caring for generations to come,\u201d said the hospital\u2019s chief executive officer Dr James Lam. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n