Singapore will increase its healthcare spend by 6 per cent a year to reach US$12.6 billion in 2015
Reported, January 4, 2012
SINGAPORE will increase its healthcare spend by 6 per cent a year to reach US$12.6 billion in 2015
from US$9.27 billion in 2011, said consultancy Frost & Sullivan.
Still, the growth in Singapores healthcare expenditure will be outstripped by the regions expected annual increase of 8 per cent. From 2011 to 2015, governments across the Asia-Pacific will beef up healthcare budgets to US$420 billion from US$309 billion.
Unsurprisingly, China will account for the largest slice of the pie in 2015 at 45 per cent with about US$189 billion. India will make up 30 per cent of regional spend with US$126 billion. Singapore, in contrast, represents a mere 3 per cent although healthcare spend in 2011 makes up 3.9 per cent of its gross domestic product.
The steady rise in healthcare expenditure is due to Singapores ageing demographic as Singapore is expected to be the fourth oldest country in the world by 2050, with the average age exceeding 60 years old. There will also be more hospital beds in Singapore, which will also serve to fuel healthcare demand. Frost & Sullivan expects the number of hospital beds to reach 12,868 in 2015.
Three-quarters of the beds, or 9,687, will come from the public sector and the rest from the private sector. According to data from the Department of Statistics, Singapore had a total of 11,509 beds last year. Singapores healthcare sector is also striving to achieve an entirely paperless system. According to Frost & Sullivan, Singapores healthcare system will fully complete the transition to electronic medical records (EMR) by 2013. It notes that Singapore will be quicker to reach that goal even though other markets such as South Korea and Taiwan embarked on the project earlier. Singapore has fully-integrated EMR between hospitals and polyclinics now, and the system will soon include general practitioners.
From 2015, the way health care is provided in Singapore and the region will also begin to change, said Rhenu Bhuller, Frost & Sullivan global vice-president of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
For starters, treatment and services will move from hospitals to homes to better serve the greying population in countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Japan. And as more patents for drugs that address chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension expire, healthcare retailers may also start to produce and sell generic versions. I expect this to change the game for consumers and healthcare players, added Ms Bhuller.
Credits:The Straits Times
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