Full story"Mr Khaw said that Singapore will not be caught out by a shortage of hospital beds again.
The building of Jurong General Hospital will start this year. The hospital, slated to have about 700 beds, should open before 2015.
Although Alexandra Hospital will then be closed and its 300 beds taken out of the system, there will still be a net increase of about 400 beds.
A site in the Sengkang-Punggol area, which has a growing population, has been reserved for yet another new hospital. – Straits Times, 25 July 2010"
In 2011: Several Public Hospitals Faces Bed Crunch Again
Healthxchange.com.sg, 4 Jun 2011
IT IS crunch time again at some public hospitals, even with the opening of the 500-bed Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) in Yishun less than a year ago. Of the seven public hospitals, three are particularly affected: Changi General Hospital (CGH), KTPH and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). The last time public hospitals faced a major bed crunch was in the months leading up to the opening of KTPH in August last year. The worst-hit then was TTSH, which curtained off parts of its corridors to add more beds. It also diverted ambulances to other hospitals almost on a regular basis. The current situation is not yet that bad, but appears to be heading that way rapidly. The hard-pressed hospitals have initiated contingency plans.
CGH head, Mr T.K. Udairam, said temporary beds in the therapy areas of the wards are used on busy days. Those who need rehabilitation but not acute medical care are moved to St Andrew’s Community Hospital next door. To cut the need for beds, patients are sometimes sent directly from the emergency department to the operating theatre, he added. Full story
In 2012: Shortage of hospital beds, so some ops delayed (The Straits Times, 17 February 2012, Pg A05)
SGH.com.sg, 17 Feb 2012
THE shortage of beds in public hospitals continues to be a problem. Changi General Hospital (CGH), for instance, has had to postpone some of its scheduled surgical operations at the end of last month and early this month as all its beds were taken.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is once again putting patients in beds in corridors, where they usually spend a night before moving to a ward.
On Feb 2, half the inpatients at its emergency department had to wait more than six hours to get a bed. On three other days that week, half had to wait more than four hours, according to figures released by the Ministry of Health (MOH). The median wait at public hospitals ranges from one to three hours. Full story
In 2013/14: Hospitals facing severe bed crunch take unusual steps
Straits Times, 8 Jan 2014
A severe bed crunch at Singapore's public hospitals has forced several of them into taking some extraordinary measures.
Changi General Hospital (CGH), which has 800 beds, started housing patients waiting for beds in a large air-conditioned tent this week.
The 1,200-bed Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), meanwhile, has been forced to set up 49 beds along the corridors of its wards to cope with the demand. Full story
In Jan 2013: PM Lee Hsien Loong admits PAP government lacks 20/20 foresight, promises to do better
