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SINGAPORE: From providing cost-effective healthcare to being a champion of clinical research, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has not wavered from its mission of public healthcare provision as it looks to tackle medical inflation through research and development.
This is especially important since the healthcare system is already "highly productive" in terms of service delivery and there is "little scope" for major cost-cutting within the present approach. So "breakthroughs in cost management must come from applying knowledge," said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the National Medical Excellence Awards on Wednesday.
Explaining the MOH's policy change, Mr Khaw said the new area of interest is not all superficial but will also directly benefit patients: "This is not because we think we have arrived … and we are rich enough to support clinical research. We are not."
"Cost control remains an MOH priority. But we assessed that the time had come for Singapore to do more in the area of clinical research because such research, if suitably directed, could benefit healthcare."
A strong clinical research environment will support a knowledge and evidence-based approach to managing healthcare. Among other things, this will "help manage medical inflation by identifying more effective ways to deliver care", he added.
The MOH's embrace of clinical research marks a paradigm shift from the "tight-fisted" approach when cost control took precedence over "discretionary activities". "The concern (then) was that clinical research would lead to more costly treatment options," said Mr Khaw.
There was only a "nominal budget" for clinical research and the MOH had to "beg" from the Totalisator Board and other charities to support researchers. Still, clinical research is not a new activity as Singapore hospitals have always dabbled in it.
With Singapore gaining ground in its biomedical ambitions, the research has to be translated into clinical applications so that it can have more value. Even with S$1.55 billion over five years pumped into supporting translation and clinical research, Mr Khaw reminded hospitals to be realistic: "We should only fund high quality, competitive research that will deliver concrete results in improving healthcare for Singaporeans."
The winners of the inaugural National Medical Excellence Awards exemplify this. Among them are ophthalmologist Professor Donald Tan, who pioneered groundbreaking surgical techniques to restore sight to the blind. - TODAY/fa
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