SINGAPORE - Measures requiring doctors in the public and private sectors to limit their movements across healthcare institutions as a precautionary move against Covid-19 have been lifted, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Responding to queries from The Sunday Times on Saturday (Aug 15), the MOH said that the easing of measures from July 17 followed the stabilising of the number of community cases.
However, movement across institutions that provide long-term care, for example, nursing homes, will still be subject to MOH's approval as long-term care patients are at a higher risk of medical complications should they be infected by Covid-19, said a MOH spokesman.
Movement restrictions kicked in in Feburary to reduce the risk of cross-institutional transmission. Doctors in the public sector were told to restrict their work to one hospital, while public hospital staff and patients were also told to limit their movement across different healthcare premises.
Doctors and healthcare workers in the private sector were also told to limit their movements.
For instance, they generally have to limit their place of inpatient practice to one private institution. One of the exceptions is when doctors and medical teams provide emergency and time-critical services. Similarly, outpatient healthcare workers were encouraged to practise only in one clinic.
The lifting of restrictions facilitates the resumption of previously-deferred services, said MOH.
It also enables healthcare workers and healthcare institutions, including doctors and specialists in the private sector, to care for more patients across institutions, including those who are returning for follow-up care.
"MOH will continue to monitor the situation and review the need for movement restrictions in various healthcare settings," said the spokesman.
Even so, healthcare workers are required to continue to adhere to infection control and safe workplace management measures. These include minimising social interactions at work and at home.
Private healthcare group Parkway Pantai, Mount Alvernia Hospital and Thomson Medical, which had followed the MOH guidelines and rules from February, say they will continue to take precautions even as measures are eased.
Dr Chuang Hsuan-Hung, a cardiologist who sees patients at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital and Gleneagles, said he can now see his patients even if they were admitted to other hospitals instead of passing the cases to other doctors, who may be less familiar with the patients' cases.
Dr Jim Teo, a respiratory physician who practices at both Parkway East Hospital and Mount Alvernia Hospital, said the easing of curbs will make it more convenient for his patients to see him.
"Patients who wanted to see me at Mount Alvernia opted not to see me because it was so far away for them, so they would only go to collect medicine, or do phone consultations with me."
Additional reporting by Clara Chong
