SINGAPORE - The Government will build a new national infectious-disease hospital in the Novena area, which is expected to be ready in 2018.

Its purpose is to contain an outbreak to a single place, instead of affecting an entire general hospital - as it did to Tan Tock Seng Hosital (TTSH), the designated Sars hospital during the 2003 outbreak.

TTSH's chief executive, Professor Philip Choo, revealed this to reporters on March 20 on the sidelines of an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the epidemic here.

"This is a very big general hospital. If you take one hospital off, then it actually creates a lot of stress on the other systems."

Prof Choo said the new hospital will be located at "a grass patch" across the street from TTSH.

The new hospital will contain two wards of intensive care units, and have its own support systems such as laboratories, X-ray rooms and operating theatres. Details have not been finalised, but the hospital is expected to have about 300 beds.

More details will be revealed later this year. Once it is built, the existing Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) will move into it.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, who was guest of honour at the TTSH event, said the healthcare system here has learnt many lessons from Sars. There were so few isolation rooms 10 years ago that makeshift cabin wards had to be built, but there are now almost 400 across all major acute public hospitals. There are also 48 infectious disease physicians, triple the number of a decade ago.

While Singapore has the "capacity and capability" to face new infectious diseases, he urged Singaporeans to "remain vigilant".

He also paid tribute to the healthcare workers who "worked selflessly to care for Sars patients". Five healthcare workers died in the battle against Sars.

Speaking at another event at National University Hospital (NUH), chairman of the National University Health System board Professor Tan Chorh Chuan said the new hospital will be a "very valuable facility" to have in the event of an outbreak like Sars.

"The new facility is very close to TTSH so it could actually draw on some of the supporting specialities and expertise from the hospital," he said.

Prof Tan, who was director of medical services during the Sars outbreak, had recommended making TTSH the only one to admit infected patients.

The existing CDC has two sites - the more commonly known cluster of pre-war buildings in Moulmein Road, and a building near TTSH which was converted from the old Ren Ci Community Hospital in 2003 after the outbreak. Then, it was not feasible to house Sars patients at the Moulmein Road site due to its size and lack of facilities for the type of intensive care needed, said Prof Tan.

source:mjn-e-news.com