SINGAPORE - The amount of space devoted to patient care at the Outram campus will triple over the next 20 years according to the masterplan unveiled by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday (Feb 5).
Also, the entire Singapore General Hospital (SGH) will be re-located to be nearer the two MRT stations along Outram Road and Eu Tong Sen Street, to make it more convenient for patients and their visitors.
Speaking at the launch of the masterplan, Mr Lee called it a "musical chairs exercise" - keeping the hospital running while moving buildings and roads around.
"We will move the high patient-volume services closer to the Outram Park MRT Station, and link up the hospital with the station, so that can get off the MRT and take an easy walk to your place of care," Mr Lee said.
He added that roads will also be redesigned to allow ambulances and patients faster access to the accident and emergency department.
The transformation of the campus started with the Duke-NUS Medical School, which was opened in 2009. This was followed by the Academia in 2013 and the new National Heart Centre in 2014.
Next on the cards is the 550-bed Outram Community Hospital slated to open in 2020.
Also opening within the coming decade are the new National Cancer Centre Building and an interim accident and emergency building which will be used until the whole hospital moves to its new premises.
The number of patients have more than doubled from the time the current emergency building was built almost 40 years ago. It treated more than 135,000 patients last year.
Part of the new SGH complex will also come up within the next 10 years.
It will house the new dental centre and an elective care centre for non-emergency treatments. It will have operating theatres, specialist outpatient clinics and wards for patients who need to be hospitalised.
Under the next phase of development, the current cancer centre, the old pathology laboratories and some carparks will make way for the new SGH complex, which should be ready in about 20 years' time.
The masterplan, which takes in 43 ha of land, will also include a research park for companies that work closely with healthcare providers, and an education zone where Duke-NUS Medical School is located.
The building of the research park will come under a different government agency, but SingHealth expects to work closely with the agency in its development.
Space has also been set aside for more training schools next to Duke-NUS. On any given day, the Outram campus has more than 700 students undergoing training, with doctors and nurses comprising the bulk.
"Altogether, the campus will meet 40 per cent of our healthcare education needs with more teaching and training facilities, and it will focus on integrated training - training doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and hospital staff together," Mr Lee said.
Professor Ivy Ng, group chief executive officer of SingHealth, said the masterplan caters to both current and anticipated healthcare needs.
