With the bed shortage at several public hospitals around Singapore, Gan Kim Yong, the health minister has urged all hospitals to make patients feel as comfortable as possible.
He said that they are already working to build new hospitals and nursing homes but they take time to build. In the meantime, they are working to find suitable solutions for patients such as moving patients to other hospitals that aren't full.
The Ministry of Health also explained that part of the reason for the bed crunch is the aging population putting more demand on health services.
Other factors include the shrinking family sizes meaning that there is less support available at home.
What is puzzling is that the government is playing catch-up with health services.
They have known for a long time that we had an ageing population and shrinking family sizes. This is precisely the reason that was cited for bringing in so many foreigners.
Why weren't they able to plan ahead and start to build more hospitals and facilities earlier rather than realising the problem only when there were frequent bed crunches and then turning around and telling Singaporeans that 'it takes time to build hospitals'?
In the meantime, the health ministry is working to make more bed available this year. There are also suggestions that the public and private healthcare sectors can partner up to spread out demand.
There is also a greater focus put on home-care to reduce hospital stays and reduce the need for re-admissions.