A hospital in Singapore (Photo: AFP) Singapore (VNA) – Singapore has passed the Healthcare Services Bill to replace the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act that was enacted four decades ago.
Senior Minister of State for Health and Law Edwin Tong said the change is necessary to better manage new models of healthcare such as telemedicine and private ambulance services to safeguard health and safety of patients.
The new law will be implemented in three phases from early 2021 to the end of 2022 to give service providers time to prepare for the regulatory requirements.
New provisions will first apply to current clinic laboratory licensees, followed by current clinic licensees and private ambulance operators, which are new licensees, in the second phase.
In the third phase will be current hospital licensees and other newly regulated services like telemedicine as well as new, innovative and potentially costly treatments like proton beam therapy, a new form of radiation therapy that uses protons to treat cancer./.
VNA
