Response to Rise in Prevalence of Preventive and Chronic Illness Cases Seen by Family Doctors and Small Clinics

Mr Pritam Singh asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health what is the Ministry's assessment and response to the reported rise in the prevalence of preventive and chronic illness cases seen by family doctors and small clinics, and concerns about the ability of such practitioners to cope with this workload.

My response will also address a similar question raised by Mr Dennis Tan for a subsequent Sitting. If the question has been satisfactorily answered, the Member may wish to withdraw the question after the sitting.

As Singapore ages, the prevalence of chronic diseases rises. To manage this, we need to leverage our entire medical talent pool. Today, general practitioners (GPs) attend to the great majority of acute outpatient cases, such as cough and cold, while polyclinics shouldered close to half of the chronic disease cases. We should address this imbalance. GPs, given their strong presence in the community and relationships with patients, can contribute a lot more to population health, including preventive care and chronic disease management.

This is one of the key objectives of Healthier SG. Having implemented the national programme for a few years, the Ministry of Health (MOH) recently included new Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) conditions in the Healthier SG protocols, so that more chronic disease patients can benefit from the support of their GPs. As the nature of chronic disease management work is different from acute cases, GPs are remunerated through annual service fees disbursed by MOH. Last year, MOH disbursed a total of $350 million to the GP sector, for their services to population health and chronic disease management.

GPs are not left to manage the increased workload on their own. All Healthier SG GP clinics are part of primary care networks (PCN), which they can rely on support from care coordinators and implement shared services. Eligible Healthier SG GP clinics also receive information technology enablement grants to defray the cost of clinic management systems. Healthier SG GP clinics may also refer their enrolled patients to Active Ageing Centres and Community Health Posts to fulfill their social prescriptions and for subsidised services, such as medication management.

MOH also encourages family doctors to complete either the Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine (GDFM) or the Master of Medicine (Family Medicine) (MMed (FM)) programmes to attain higher clinical competencies and greater confidence in managing more complex chronic conditions and coordinating care. In 2025, Family Medicine was recognised as a specialty, partly in recognition of the critical role family physicians can play in managing patients with complex chronic conditions in the community.

Based on current trends in recruitment and attrition, we expect the healthcare workforce, including family doctors, nurses and care coordinators, to increase by 20% by 2030. MOH closely monitors the primary care caseload and regularly reviews our medium- to long-term manpower plans to ensure adequacy.