Highlights from the Honorary Secretary

Budget 2025 announcements relevant to the medical profession

As part of Budget 2025, the Ministry of Health (MOH) made several announcements, some of which have direct impact on the medical community. We highlight the key selection below:

• Additional drugs eligible for enhanced subsidies at GP clinics under Healthier SG scheme.
• Development of care protocols for major depressive disorder and general anxiety disorder.
• Recognising family medicine as a specialty.
• Doctors in public acute hospitals to be assigned as principal doctor, coordinating and managing cross-specialty issues to consolidate care.

• Increased intake across the three local medical schools, and move to supplement locally trained doctors with Singaporeans and foreigners trained overseas.

More initiatives and details can be found at this link: https://www.moh.gov.sg/cos2025.

SMA webinar on cybersecurity

The "Cybersecurity in Healthcare: Protecting What Matters Most" webinar on 8 March 2025 gathered more than 280 participants, including medical practitioners, representatives from MOH, the Personal Data Protection Commission and Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, and cybersecurity vendors. It was an engaging session sharing more about the upcoming Health Information Bill (HIB), how doctors can prepare for it, and what one should do if a cybersecurity breach occurs.

The proposed HIB mandates the contribution of a copy of selected key health information to the National Electronic Health Record.

For further details, please visit the following link: https://www.healthinfo.gov.sg.