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Singapore and United
Arab Emirates set to extend medical partnership
Senior Minister of
State for Health Meets with Department of Health and Medical
Services to Discuss Greater Cooperation
Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are set to extend and deepen
cooperation on medical issues, following a series of recent
high-level government meetings held in Dubai.
Dr. Balaji Sadasivan, the Senior Minister of State for Health of the
Republic of Singapore, met with officials from the Department of
Health and Medical Services (DOHMS) and Dubai Healthcare City, to
examine the potential for launching joint projects with both local
and Singaporean medical expertise.
Ranked by the World Health Organization as having the best health
system in Asia - ahead of Japan and the US - the Southeast Asian
nation offers specialized healthcare treatments and superb
healthcare facilities, most of which are internationally accredited
by the Joint Commission International. In 2003, an independent
survey published by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy,
revealed that expatriates in Asia had rated Singapore healthcare
system third in the world, behind the United States and Australia.
"We have enjoyed a friendly relationship with the United Arab
Emirates for many years. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is currently
in Abu Dhabi after previously visiting Dubai in November 2005,
underscoring our commitment for greater co-operation at all levels.
Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are currently exploring new
avenues for knowledge exchange and sharing expertise in areas of
mutual benefit," says Dr. Sadasivan.
Singapore is Asia's leading destination for international medical
services. In 2004, more than 320,000 international patients traveled
there for a whole range of medical care, including health screening,
eye, heart and brain surgery, and cancer treatment.
Over the past five years, Singapore has become a destination of
choice for residents of the UAE seeking treatment abroad. One of the
reasons for its increasing popularity is the availability of
services which only a few countries specialize in, such as stem cell
transplants and advanced robotic surgery.
For example, the Haematology Department at Singapore General
Hospital has been at the forefront of treatment for a variety of
blood disorders since it carried out its first haematopoeitic stem
cell transplant 20 years ago. Since then, doctors have carried out
more than 700 such transplants at the centre, including the world's
first successful peripheral blood stem cell transplant from an
unrelated donor on a five-year-old Malaysian child in 1995.
"We have seen an increasing number of patients from the Middle
East seeking healthcare in Singapore attracted by our cutting edge
technology, quality treatment and safe blood supply and we feel that
it would be highly beneficial to share some of our expertise with
facilities in the region. At the same time, we are extremely
impressed at the scale and vision of the plans for an advanced
health service being developed within the United Arab
Emirates," said Dr. Sadasivan.
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