It will be run by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), which has been asked to submit a proposal for such a set-up in the next six to 12 months. No date of opening is available yet.

NTU was picked as it had 'built up its biological and biomedical sciences base in recent years', the Education Ministry (MOE) announced yesterday.

The third school will take in 100 to 150 students a year, adding to the 310 who now graduate each year from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

This increase will help Singapore cope with the greater medical needs that a greying population will have, noted Education Minister Ng Eng Hen, himself medically trained, yesterday.

But the school, he made clear, should differentiate itself from its two established counterparts.

'This medical school must be positioned for the future...We must also anticipate the way medical care will be delivered 10, 20 years from now,' he said.

Dr Su Guaning, the president of NTU, agreed that the way health care is administered in an ageing society may shift.

'Technology will become vital as care spreads beyond hospitals and into homes,' said Dr Su, who chairs the advisory panel for the proposed medical school.

Because of this, medical students at NTU will come to grips with modern technology, including the use of information technology (IT) and mechanical devices used in health care, he said.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times