Singapore to roll out haze subsidies as more seek treatment for respiratory issues

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Uh we're still in the inter monsoon season which means uh wind conditions, rain uh conditions are not going to change very much. So we're likely to see this haze condition uh go on for a few more weeks. Uh

in recent days it has gotten worse. Um uh and I think it will persist for a few more weeks very likely. Uh in the hospitals we are already standing up our measures. Uh this means closing the windows in

the wards and corridors. Uh turning on the ventilators, the air purifiers also spot cooling. Uh we are taking stock of our emergency supplies and our stocks and I think we are quite well stocked. Uh uh so there's no

need to worry about that. Uh I think the latest concern is that I'm seeing a week on week uptick in the number of people visiting the EDS the emergency departments with respiratory issues. Uh and also more people visiting

poly clinics. I'm sure the local clinics are uh neighborhood clinics are seeing the same trend. Uh I think it is not just due to haste but also because the hay season this year coincided with influenza a season. So

I think it compounded each other. So given that I think more Singaporeans having respiratory issues, we're going to activate our two schemes. This is the PHPC scheme and the HSS scheme. Uh the last time we activated was 2015,

more than 10 years ago. PHPC is the public health preparedness clinic program. Uh it is uh clinic facing essentially we have about 1,400 private clinics out there. we bring them into the network and activate them in uh situations

such as this where there's some alert and some threat that we need to respond to. Uh second scheme is HSS which is uh health subsid um pay subsidy scheme. This is public facing. That means if you once the

HSS scheme is activated from tomorrow onwards um P members of public if you are below 18 above 65 holders of Charles blue or orange meda generation pioneer generation public assistance scheme uh so on uh if you go to

uh any of the PHPC clinic with respiratory issues uh you will be subsidized by the uh you will pay a lower fee and government will subsidize the techniques for delivering those services to you. Uh so you pay from

zero $5 either $0, $5 or $10 depending on your criteria. Yeah. Uh so that will be effective from tomorrow. Uh out of $1,370 clinics in the scheme as of this morning close to 1,000 already responded positively. Yeah. So

I think this will be useful. Uh so just a final reminder to everyone if there's no major issues uh don't have to visit the emergency department. Yeah. Go to a PHPC clinic. They should be able to take care

of you. I want to ask about the severity of the case of the haze because you mentioned that the last time HSS was activated was 11 years ago in 2015. And then also you said you're expecting the haze

to worsen in the next few weeks. So maybe just talk a little bit about the severity of the haze. Do you think it will reach yet? um back then in 2015 it was 300. We won't be able to

tell. I don't think it will worsen for sure. I don't think it will get better for the next few weeks and think we should expect that this current condition may persist a little while more. Yeah. Uh I think

the circumstances are a bit different. 2015 we have a very bad uh bout of pace hitting 300 and above and that prompted the trigger of the scheme. This year our assessment is a bit different. We are not seeing

300. I hope not. Uh but it looks like it's a bit more prolonged. I think due to climate change and other reason intersoon season is getting longer. So we're not seeing the haze going away like in the past

within a few weeks. So it's a bit more prolonged but more importantly is observing that more patients are coming to ED. Uh it's not a lot more just week on week a bit more increase but after a few

weeks you start to you start to add up. Yeah. So just observing that and that I think more Singaporeans need help. We thought we should trigger the scheme. Yeah. Circumstances are a bit different and when you have more

serious condition and you need to visit the emergency department, you should. That's what emergency departments are for which is why we are very careful in protecting that resource because people need to go there for life and death situations.

But when we are inundated with uh respiratory issues that can be resolved at the clinic level uh I think that's when we also want to make sure we give people the assurance go to a clinic doctors can your

family physicians can take care of you leave uh emergency department facility for those with very urgent very serious conditions [clears throat] should I mean you mentioned that the delays will be prolonged and this is also more prolonged than

the one in um should Singaporeans be concerned about the long-term impacts of the age. Well, a few weeks I wouldn't classify as longterm or our clinicians would not classify as long-term. Long-term usually lasts for years, even decades. Uh

the the the medical risk of long-term exposure to anything not good, including sugar, salt, sodium, fats, you know, things that we eat every day. Yeah. They all have long-term impact. Yeah. Not just the haze alone. They are all

around us. So, always pay attention and uh to them. what are these uh what what are these factors that can affect your long-term health and pay attention to them. As for respiratory issues, long-term serious respiratory issues like lung

cancer, smoking remains the number one factor. So if anything uh stop smoking if you are smoking. Yeah. Okay. One question from so um [clears throat] mentioned that the hospital in a high number of No, I didn't say high

number. I say week on week is slowly creeping up. Yeah. Especially the demand of the bed also increased. So um so what is the current situation now? Is it uh and meanwhile is our Singapore healthcare system is well

prepared to handle such a what what we are seeing now is nothing compared to co Yeah. And even co we managed to pull through with everybody's help. Uh so I think uh your question sound a bit alarming. I

just want to bring you back to what I said. uh we are seeing some uptick of uh visits to emergency department as well as poly clinics on respiratory issue. The increase is not big week on week but after

a few weeks it start to add up a bit. I think we it is time to trigger the HSS. Yeah. Um we will have to judge. Yeah. There's no uh expiry date. We will but we know that the

haze won't last forever. Yeah. Uh so therefore when the time is right I think we will stand down we will have to judge width or width. So just curious I think it mentioned that they uh the conditions covered

under the skin include allergic rhinitis asthma bronchitis all stuff. They're all respiratory issues. I'm just wondering like do you know if any of these are like the most like people come to the clinics today? Oh I don't have

because that goes into the diagnosis of the doctor and what goes into their medical records. Yeah. So we don't compile and break down but generally I think we will classify them as respiratory related issues. I think the two

factors are very clear. One is the haste the other one is influenza awave that we are currently facing. Yeah.