Protection of Public Hospitals against Security Threats

Ms K Thanaletchimi asked the Minister for Health (a) how safe are the public hospitals in terms of security protection; (b) whether the Ministry will consider providing 24/7 security services by the Home Team as it had done in the past; and (c) how prepared are the hospitals in tackling a terrorist attack in such open premises.

MOH has been working with MHA on the security protection of our public hospitals. Each hospital has put in place preventive security measures, physical security operations, contingency plans covering incident response and consequence management to deal with different scenarios and threat levels, including terrorist incidents. Assessments are carried out regularly on the competencies of the security personnel. In addition, there are programmes to raise security awareness among staff, patients and visitors. Hospitals also conduct regular training and exercises, including with the Home Team forces.

In the event of a security incident, our public hospitals are resourced with their own security personnel onsite who can provide immediate response to "deny, delay and contain", while waiting for the arrival of Home Team quick response forces where necessary. The plan also covers appropriate actions by staff, patients and visitors, including evacuation.

Our public hospitals are receiving ongoing support from Home Team agencies. They have participated in the Safety and Security Watch Group scheme with the Police and SCDF to strengthen the safety and security of their patients and staff on their premises and learn from good practices. The majority of public hospitals have also signed up as Project Guardian members and their security personnel are trained to react and complement Police response to an incident. The Police conduct regular patrols at public hospitals and their vicinity. These include patrols by the Emergency Response Teams, who are trained and equipped to respond to a terrorist incident. During periods of heightened alert, the Home Team may deploy additional forces to beef up the security of the hospitals.

We will continue to work closely with MHA and the Home Team on security preparedness and response at our public hospitals.