The bed-strapped Changi General Hospital (CGH) may send up to 12 dengue patients to Gleneagles Hospital wards for treatment. More than 13,000 people have been infected with dengue this year, with the majority of them living in the east.

Dengue infections have fallen for four straight weeks since hitting a high of 842 cases between June 16 and 22, but some experts fear it might go up again. CGH also has one of the highest bed occupancies among public hospitals, with over 90 per cent of its beds occupied. It is already leasing 30 beds from Parkway East Hospital.

CGH's chief executive officer Dr Lee Chien Earn said: "We are piloting the initiative with Gleneagles so that our hospital would be able to leverage on its capacity and resources should we see a surge in dengue patients, especially during the hotter months of August and September."

Subsidised patients who are transferred to Gleneagles Hospital will pay the subsidised rate they are entitled to at CGH.