Debated in Parliament on 4 Sep 2020.
Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will consider more widespread availability of medication delivery to patients' homes to reduce crowding and waiting time in polyclinics and hospitals especially for those patients collecting routine medication for chronic conditions.
Public healthcare institutions have been providing medication delivery services since 2003 to bring greater convenience to patients. The Agency for Logistics Procurement and Supply (ALPS) set up by the Ministry of Health, has partnered public healthcare institutions and worked with various providers to enhance the service quality and affordability of medication delivery services.
With the ongoing COVID-19 situation, delivery capacity has increased tenfold from 320 deliveries per day before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to an average of 3,200 deliveries each day. There were over 400,000 medication deliveries made from 1 February to 25 August 2020.
In addition to medicine delivery services, selected polyclinics also provide the option for patients to collect their medicine at their convenience from Pilbox lockers, selected parcel deposit lockers or certain retail pharmacy outlets.
Patients may approach the pharmacy staff at the public healthcare institutions to arrange for medication delivery or collection.
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