Measures for Rapid Deployment of Public Health Interventions and Protection for Healthcare Workers from High-risk Diseases

Dr Wan Rizal asked the Minister for Health (a) what measures are in place to ensure the rapid deployment of public health interventions, such as vaccination or containment measures, in response to the potential spread of emerging diseases to Singapore, such as H5N1 or the recent outbreak of an unidentified flu-like disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and (b) what support and resources are being provided to healthcare workers to protect them from high-risk diseases.

A pandemic, by nature, is a global disease outbreak where the world cannot be entirely prepared for. That said, from the experience of COVID-19, we have put in a place a robust contingency plan, which we have been discussing in this House. For example, we have a comprehensive set of clinical protocols, including patient isolation, restriction of visitors and donning of full Personal Protective Equipment to protect our healthcare workers during a pandemic. We have stockpiles of drugs, such as antivirals, which can effectively reduce the severity of certain diseases.

Parliament has recently passed the amendments to the Infectious Diseases Act to confer the Ministry of Health the powers to take necessary measures, including a Circuit Breaker or even declaring an Emergency and imposing a curfew, to slow down the spread of the disease. This will help buy time for an effective vaccine and other medical countermeasures to be developed, manufactured, distributed and administered.

In this regard, Singapore is plugged into global vaccine development efforts, such as the 100 Days Mission. We are hosting several vaccine manufacturing plants in Singapore, which give ourselves additional options during a pandemic. No country is ever fully ready for a pandemic, but we have taken all possible measures to prepare ourselves for it.