SINGAPORE - Singapore's newest hospital, the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, will start taking more ambulance cases from Thursday (Sept 3), further easing the load on other public hospitals which are facing heavy demand.

Patients living in the western and north-western parts of Singapore will also benefit from emergency services being more accessible.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Wednesday that this will "better manage the load of Singapore Civil Defence Force ambulance cases at hospitals such as the National University Hospital (NUH) and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital".

From June this year, the new hospital started taking in some patients who walked in and some who were taken there by ambulance.

However, the MOH said the new hospital will still not take in critically ill patients, such as those suffering from heart attacks or stroke or those who have been badly injured in an accident.

Such patients will continue to be taken to NUH, about 8km away.