Committee of Supply 2022 debate, Day 6: Masagos Zulkifli on integrated social health services ‘anchored around the family’

Parents are often stretched for time, having to balance multiple roles at home and at work. One way to ease their load is to cut down on the trips they have to make for multiple tasks through better integrated services so that they can receive support at one go. These include vaccination, breastfeeding support and childhood developmental screenings. The Ministry of Health will scale up mother-child dyad services to 12 more polyclinics over the next three years. Another way is through the Family Nexus, which brings together services like clinics and social service agencies in a one-stop node near their homes. There will even be a "concierge service" representative on site to recommend the relevant programmes. The pilot will start later this year. Second Minister for Health Masagos Zulkifli, who highlighted these initiatives in Parliament on Wednesday (Mar 9), said the Government will build a more integrated social health ecosystem for the next generation to provide "wraparound" support, anchored in the community, close to the homes and most importantly, "anchored around the family".