Timeline to Expand Mental Health Infrastructure by Appropriately Equipping Polyclinics, General Practitioners and Social Service Agencies

Dr Wan Rizal asked the Minister for Health whether the Government is looking at a specific timeline to expand our mental health infrastructure by equipping all polyclinics, general practitioners and social service agencies with the necessary expertise and resources.

MOH has been working with the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to increase the accessibility of mental health services in the primary and community care settings, in order to strengthen community support for people with mental health needs. In this regard, mental health shared care teams have been set up in the public hospitals to support our primary and community care providers in mental health management through training and capability building. This includes training of community mental health teams, polyclinics and general practitioners in assessment and intervention.

Thus far, we have met our targets of having one in two polyclinics provide mental health services, trained over 220 general practitioners in mental health management, 50 community outreach teams to engage and provide basic emotional support to individuals at risk of or with mental health conditions, and 18 community intervention teams to provide therapy, by end of 2021. MOH will continue to review mental health service provision in the community so that we can meet the needs of the population.