In Singapore, a city-state with a population of 5.7 million, people with health concerns would seek medical care from both public institutions such as hospitals and polyclinics or privately owned clinics and medical institutions. Singapore is undergoing a significant demographic change which will affect both present and future demand for healthcare services. In the midst of this change, Singapore also faces a manpower constraint. The Ministry of Health previously estimated that an additional 30,000 workers will be needed in the healthcare sector to provide adequate care to the expected rising number of patients. However, it remains difficult to attract talent into the healthcare sector for a variety of reasons; long hours, stressful environments, ageing population among others.
Opportunity lies in the fact that Industry 4.0 has brought about potential solutions to this manpower constraints. Innovation in the form of adopting new medical technologies, diagnostic and treatment tools, and the redesign of job roles and process flows in medical institutions, can alleviate this manpower concern while simultaneously improving the quality of care in Singapore’s healthcare sector. Despite the optimism, many medical providers do face challenges pioneering these new technologies and procedures in Singapore’s healthcare sector. This has only served to exacerbate the serious manpower shortage in healthcare.
This online forum aims to 1) discuss the causes of the manpower constraints in the healthcare sector, 2) examine the possibilities of Industry 4.0-related processes such as job redesign and task-shifting as potential manpower-alleviating solutions and 3) provide recommendations to enable to adoption of new labour-saving technologies and procedures without compromising the quality of healthcare provided in Singapore.
The informative and pointed discussions will enable the Institute of Policy Studies to draft an appropriate set of policy recommendations which would help alleviate the current manpower constraints in the healthcare sector.
Download
• Report on Online Forum on Healthcare 4.0: Technology Adoption and Innovation
• Presentation Slides of Ms Louisa Lee