WP calls for clear timelines during disease outbreaks
Channel NewsAsia file photo of a person being tested for Hepatitis C.
SINGAPORE — With the Ministry of Health (MOH) setting up a taskforce to manage future outbreaks of infectious disease here, the Workers’ Party (WP) has called for defined timelines to be established when it comes to responding to, and announcing, such outbreaks in the public healthcare system.
This was among the suggestions made by WP Non-Constituency Member of Parliament-elect Leon Perera in a statement issued on behalf of the opposition party today (Dec 9). It came a day after an independent review committee announced its findings on the hepatitis C outbreak at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). The MOH announced that a taskforce, led by Minister of State (Health) Chee Hong Tat, will be set up to improve the national healthcare system’s ability to respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
Mr Perera said recommendations made by the taskforce should be from “a perspective of sufficient independence from the existing organisation structure”. Hence, the taskforce should gather feedback from medical professionals and the public, and it should be co-led by a “respected, retired healthcare professional”.
Mr Perera noted that the committee’s report showed that the escalation and notification process in the hepatitis C outbreak at SGH was “flawed and needs overhaul”. As such, there is a need to define timelines, such as from recognising a potential infectious disease outbreak to escalating the issue.
He added that there should be explicit guidelines on the kind of information that should be provided, the timeliness of information flow from the director of medical services at the public hospital to the MOH’s Permanent Secretary, to the Health Minister, and then to the public.
In a response on his Facebook page tonight, Dr Tan Wu Meng, who stood in his first election under the People’s Action Party banner this year, said the “key first step” lies in recognising there is a problem big enough to be escalated.
“However well-meant, nothing in ... (WP’s) ... proposals would help our healthcare workers diagnose outbreaks better, detect atypical infections sooner, or sense uncommon problems more clearly.”
In a separate statement posted on its website, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) called on Health Minister Gan Kim Yong to take responsibility for the “communications breakdown” at the Health Ministry.
“As the chief officer of the ministry, the Minister for Health is ultimately responsible for the efficient and proper communication between the various departments within his ministry,” SDP said.
