Number of Non-medical Care Related Admissions into Public Hospitals

37 Ms Irene Quay Siew Ching asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the current number of non-medical care related admissions into public hospitals; (b) what are the common conditions for which patients are admitted for non-medical care; and (c) whether a review will be carried out to ensure parity between outpatient and inpatient MediSave/Approved Integrated Shield claimable limits for these conditions so that hospital beds can be more efficiently utilised for cases requiring urgent medical attention.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Patients are hospitalised at the public hospitals only when they have a clear clinical need for admission. There have been a very small number of admissions due to non-medical circumstances. Examples include new-born babies who are well but are admitted as their mothers remained unfit for discharge after delivery, or patients who are well but unable to be discharged as they lack a caregiving arrangement. The number of these non-medical admissions have remained low at between 0.01% to 0.03% of all admissions in the past five years.

With advances in medical science and changes in care models, some medical treatments that previously required patients to be admitted can be delivered effectively in an ambulatory or outpatient setting. As some of these treatments may remain costly, MOH will review and consider them for MediShield Life and MediSave coverage, as appropriate. As an example, MediShield Life and MediSave can now be claimed by multiple myeloma patients who continue their autologous bone marrow transplants in the outpatient setting, potentially allowing these patients to shorten their hospitalisation stays by up to three weeks.