Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour for me to be here today, amongst the many Lions in Singapore. Since 1917, Lions have served the worlds population through hard work and commitment to make a difference everywhere. The Lions Club international is the worlds largest service club, with more than 1.4 million members in more than 44,000 clubs in 189 countries. The Lions Clubs in Singapore are well known for your numerous civic activities. I will not be able to do justice by enumerating them. In recent years, the area where the Lions have had the greatest social impact in Singapore is in the care of the elderly. Over the last decade, the Ministry of Health has been working closely with the Lions to provide care and services to the elderly.

Since 1992, my Ministry has been working with the Lions. That was when we had our first contact with the Lions Home in Toa Payoh. However, the Lions Club was not satisfied with this 45 bedded home, and in 1997 opened the Lions Home for Elders in Bedok. MOH provided $9.8m as capital grant to help Lions build this 150-bedded home. We are also providing $1.3m every year for the running cost of the home. The Lions Home in Bedok is part of the health care scene for the elderly in Singapore.

There are about 235,000 elderly or senior citizens in Singapore and they form about 7% of our population. We are fortunate in that we have time to make plans to care for the increasing number of senior citizens we will have. In about 10 years our senior citizen population will reach 10%, and in 30 years it will reach 18%, the level in UK today.

My Ministry has made significant progress since we first started our first fledgling department to focus on the elderly. We now have a division with public health doctors, a geriatrician, a psychogeriatrician, nurses, an economist and an executive staff to drive the development of continuing care or step-down care for the elderly.

Over the past year alone, six VWO nursing homes with 1,200 beds were built. There are now about 6,800 nursing home beds in Singapore or 29 beds per 1,000 elderly. Three purpose-built private nursing homes with a total of 800 beds are on the cards, another Lions Home at the original Toa Payoh site is almost ready, and I am told it will be operational in September this year. My Ministry has provided $8m to develop this 200-bedded home. This Home is the last of the VWO nursing homes to be built, as my Ministry is now focussing on getting the private sector to invest in this industry, to cater to the more affluent elderly of the future. We would like to increase private nursing home beds from the current 27% to 40% by 2010.

Since April last year, my Ministry established a Framework for Integrated Health Care for the Elderly. This Framework addresses quality of care as well as integrated care for the elderly. The Lions Home for Elders in Bedok is one of the ‘approved’ providers under this scheme. In fact, you are one of the first four nursing homes involved in this scheme. Under this scheme, geriatric departments in the regional hospitals provide professional leadership and support for improved care in community hospitals and nursing homes. I have been informed that specialist evaluation, support, and training by geriatricians, psychogeriatricians, therapists and dieticians, has improved care for nursing home residents.

I would like to commend the Lions Club for your vision, your drive and your commitment to help the elderly in Singapore. The nursing home in Bedok has made significant progress, in line with my Ministry’s plan to integrate and upgrade care for the elderly. I am sure you will continue to improve, and you will help even more elderly, when you open the new nursing home in Toa Payoh. I must of course, not forget to recognize the many contributions already made by your other civic groups for the betterment of mankind, such as the Lions Befrienders and the Skills for Adolescents Program.

The Lions Club has done much to preserve the dignity of of our senior citizens. I salute you, and I thank you.

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