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Singapore’s hospitals are closely monitoring the COVID-19 scenario in the country and are in a position to increase capacity if needed following a recent wave of infections, the hospital government said on Monday.
Singapore has noticed a rise in COVID-19 infections over the past two weeks.
According to the Ministry of Health, the estimated number of COVID-19 cases in the week of Nov. 26 to Dec. 2 was 32,035, compared to 22,094 cases last week.
Although the Ministry of Health noted that the number of hospitalizations and intensive care unit (ICU) stays are not as high as they were during the pandemic, and that there is no indication that locally circulating variants are more transmissible or cause more severe disease, the backlog in some cases has increased the workload in hospitals that were already occupied.
The National University Health System (NUHS) said in a statement that it was monitoring the situation with its three hospitals: National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and Alexandra Hospital.
“We continue to be vigilant and increase capacity at our inpatient facilities, adding our extensive care and isolation facilities,” Channel News Asia quoted a NUHS spokesperson as saying.
“We are doing everything we can to optimize resources and will adapt our reaction accordingly to conversion wishes. “
The spokesperson said COVID-19 hospitalizations and the number of ICU cases seen at the three NUHS hospitals “have remained stable. “
“Elective procedures are not affected at the moment,” the spokesperson added.
SingHealth, which operates several hospitals, national specialist centres and polyclinics, also “remains alert and vigilant” for any further developments in the fight against COVID-19 in Singapore.
SingHealth Group Deputy CEO Fong Kok Yong said its hospitals are well-prepared to build capacity to care for COVID-19 patients if needed.
“Our clinical and operational groups continue to intensively monitor the scenario and we will respond proactively as soon as the need arises,” Fong said.
Fong, who heads SingHealth’s medical and clinical division, said the group’s facilities have put in place active measures to optimize hospital capacity, adding same-day admission, use of outpatient surgeries and other projects aimed at reducing length of stay.
These come with preoperative rehabilitation and early mobilization of postoperative patients for faster recovery, Fong said.
The NUHS also said it would, if necessary, redeploy and strengthen its staff for greater assistance in its emergency departments.
“Our triage process includes having a senior emergency physician review the cases for hospital admission, to ensure the appropriate right-siting and avoid unnecessary admission,” the NUHS spokesperson said.
Alternative arrangements, “where clinically appropriate”, are also being offered.
This includes the NUHS@Home recovery program, teleconsultation, telerehabilitation, remote monitoring, remote prescribing, and medication delivery.
“We seek the public’s understanding that longer waiting time may be expected at our emergency departments and priority will be given to patients with more serious conditions and who require admission,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that only those with serious or life-threatening emergencies, such as chest pain, shortness of breath and uncontrollable bleeding, deserve to be moved to the emergency department, as it allows other people who need emergency care to be treated temporarily and is helping to maintain hospital capacity for those who want acute hospital care.
“We urge the public to go to their GP or a 24-hour clinic in case it is not an emergency,” the spokesperson said.