SINGAPORE - An external group set up last October to review the safety system of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) visited the headquarters of the SAF's medical corps in Nee Soon Camp on Tuesday.

Members of the group toured some of the training facilities of the SAF medical staff and were also briefed on the SAF's medical support system, said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.

Professor Julian Thumboo, head of Singapore General Hospital's department of rheumatology, said the SAF's medical support system has made "very impressive strides" in the past couple of decades.

"In some ways, it is even more integrated than other aspects of the public healthcare system," said Prof Thumboo, a member of the External Review Panel on SAF Safety.

For instance, the SAF started using an electronic database of medical records before hospitals and polyclinics here did, he added.

Chaired by Mr Alan Chan Heng Loon, chief executive of Singapore Press Holdings, the panel comprising military men and professionals outside the SAF, has visited the Basic Military Training Centre, Officer Cadet School, Specialist Cadet School. It also visited Exercise Golden Sand, a joint military exercise this April.