Government Support for Diagnosis, Treatment and Subsidy for Persons with Rare Diseases in Singapore

16 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Health how is the Government supporting the diagnosis, treatment and subsidising of persons with rare diseases in Singapore.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Most of the rare diseases are diagnosed in childhood. While most of these diseases do not yet have an effective cure, early diagnosis and treatment for some of the diseases can substantially extend a patient's lifespan and improve his quality of life.

To enable early diagnosis, our public healthcare institutions have implemented the National Expanded Newborn Screening Programme which covers more than 30 rare diseases.

At our public healthcare institutions, patients with rare diseases can have access to subsidised inpatient and outpatient services. MediShield Life and MediSave can be utilised to pay for their hospital bills. Patients who need help with their bills may also apply for financial assistance such as MediFund and Medication Assistance Fund.

A small number of individuals with very rare conditions require medications that are very costly. Our hospitals do their best to assist these patients, for example by negotiating price discounts with manufacturers for the medications where possible, waiving parts of their medical fees or drawing from hospital charity funds.

MOH recognises that more support is needed for these patients, and is looking into providing greater support for them. More details will be made known later this year.