SINGAPORE - General practitioners looking to go into geriatric medicine and family medicine can soon do so through new awards that will fund 70 per cent of the course fees.

Last year, the Health Ministry and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) launched an award to support general practitioners to take up the Graduate Diploma in Palliative Care. Eight had received the award which was "useful support" for the doctors, said Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Health.

The award has now been broadened to cover the Graduate Diploma in Geriatric Medicine and the Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine too, she announced on Thursday morning.

Dr Khor was speaking at the ILTC Manpower Development Awards where 77 students, administrators, nurses, doctors and more were conferred awards in five categories that will help develop expertise in the intermediate and long term care (ILTC) sector.