Healthier SG to include mental health in future

Mental health is an important issue that the authorities intend to include under the Healthier SG initiative in the future, but for now this will be covered by other measures, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

He was responding to a student at the Yale-NUS College President's Speaker Series on Monday. The student asked why mental health has not been included in Healthier SG's care protocols for doctors.

During last week's debate on Healthier SG in Parliament, several MPs from the ruling People's Action Party and the opposition also raised questions on how mental health would fit into Healthier SG.

The initiative, which emphasises preventive care, will start off by tackling chronic illnesses, especially those that affect older folks, said Mr Ong.

"But this doesn't mean mental health is not important just because it's not in Healthier SG," he added. "Mental health requires a more sophisticated and comprehensive response first, before we even come up with a protocol. We intend to have a protocol for the GPs (general practitioners)."

Mr Ong said Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary, who chairs the Interagency Taskforce on Mental Health and Well-being, has been working on a comprehensive set of measures to tackle mental health issues for as long as his ministry has been working on the Healthier SG initiative.

Said Mr Ong: "It involves expanding our clinical capacity, especially at Alexandra Hospital, expanding the number of outreach sessions in the community, expanding the number of counsellors and also bringing (mental health) into teaching in schools."

The authorities will address mental health issues from this angle before incorporating mental health into Healthier SG, he said to an in-person audience of about 200 people and 130 online.

In July, the mental health task force proposed recommendations to improve access to mental health services, strengthen support for youth mental health and improve measures for mental health in the workplace.

Following public consultation, which ended on Aug 7, the task force will develop a national strategy on mental health to guide the work of various agencies.

For Mr Ong, the mental health of seniors is the most worrying, noting that the health impact of loneliness for a senior is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

He said: "What is very important in tackling these mental health issues is setting up a supportive framework and structure to allow our seniors to age in a place with social contact, with friends and with activities that they can choose."