Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. Like many others who have shared in this House, Sengkang residents have had significant difficulties getting online. To a Parliamentary Question that was filed in March earlier this year, some of our residents are waiting as much as 2.5 hours on the long tail. One question that I wonder in terms of increasing the number of walk-in slots – what the Leader of the Opposition said earlier – is if we could channel more of those that are currently booking online toward telemedicine options. The reason behind that is, of course, those who are sophisticated enough to book online, may be also much more comfortable with addressing a telemedicine option.
Related to this, one reason why many younger and more Internet-savvy patients tend to go toward the polyclinics is because there is still a discrepancy between for some employers what is recognised to be a valid medical certificate (MC) – whether you need a polyclinic MC versus a regular GP MC. I understand this falls a little bit beyond the remit of the MOH and more on the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Nevertheless, I wonder if this is something that can be explored a little further in terms of guidelines that the Government offers toward allowing for MCs that are across a wider range of providers.
Dr Janil Puthucheary: Madam, I thank Assoc Prof Lim for his suggestions and questions, and the acknowledgement that I am not going to comment on MOM’s remit.
Indeed, we are exploring the use of telemedicine to improve the delivery of services from the polyclinics. I think we leave it to the professional teams in terms of how they assess the referral information, the patient demographic, as well as the presenting problems as to which patients can be dealt with an online consultation and which patients will need an in-person appointment. I think that is something for a clinical judgement, rather than a policy position. But we will support the teams so that we can optimise the use of telemedicine and make sure that we improve the capacity available at the polyclinics.
Ministry of Health
4 July 2023
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3265
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 