(From left) GOH SMS Dr Amy Khor; Mr Kevin Low, COO (Facilities & Infrastructure Development), SingHealth; Mr Peter Seah, Chairman, SingHealth; and Prof Ivy Ng, GCEO, SingHealth, viewing the architectural model of the new SGH Elective Care Centre and National Dental Centre Singapore Building.PHOTO: SINGHEALTH
Patients at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) can expect a shorter wait for surgery from 2026, when a new centre focused on non-emergency operations is completed.
The hospital said that the Elective Care Centre (ECC), which had its groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, will free up resources in the main hospital for complex procedures and emergency cases.
Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor said the ECC is expected to perform more than 40 per cent of the total volume of operations at SGH.
It is designed as a facility for scheduled procedures on the musculoskeletal system, ear, nose and throat, and breast, among others.
It is a key part of the SGH Campus Masterplan, which Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launched in February 2016.
The plan aims to triple the space devoted to patient care in 20 years.
It will also move services with a high volume of patients closer to Outram Park MRT station, making SGH more accessible by public transport to patients and visitors.
The ECC will also house the new National Dental Centre.
Dr Khor said the ECC's various clinical facilities and beds for hospitalised patients will help to meet Singapore's increasing healthcare demand.
On the new dental centre, she said it will use new technologies to give patients better treatment in a shorter time.
For example, the centre will host 3D-printing technologies, which will produce 3D-printed dentures that are faster to make than traditional dentures.
