Healthcare workforce to grow 20% by 2030 as MOH addresses GP chronic disease workload

A 20 per cent increase in Singapore's healthcare workforce, including family doctors, nurses and care coordinators, is projected by 2030, Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung told Parliament, citing current trends in recruitment and attrition.

The projection was disclosed in response on 7 July 2026 to a question on the rising prevalence of preventive and chronic illness cases seen by family doctors and small clinics.

The reply addressed a Parliamentary Question filed by Workers' Party MP Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC), who asked for the Ministry's assessment of the reported rise in caseloads and concerns about practitioners' ability to cope with the workload.

Setting out the broader context, the Minister said that as Singapore ages, the prevalence of chronic diseases rises, and the country needs to "leverage our entire medical talent pool." He noted that GPs currently attend to the great majority of acute outpatient cases, such as coughs and colds, while polyclinics "shouldered close to half of the chronic disease cases," a distribution he said should be addressed.

The Minister argued that GPs, "given their strong presence in the community and relationships with patients, can contribute a lot more to population health, including preventive care and chronic disease management." This, he said, is one of the key objectives of Healthier SG, the national programme now several years into implementation.

Turning to concrete measures, the Minister said MOH recently included new Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) conditions in the Healthier SG protocols, so that more chronic disease patients can benefit from the support of their GPs. Because chronic disease management differs in nature from acute care, GPs are remunerated through annual service fees disbursed by MOH, which last year totalled $350 million for the sector's population health and chronic disease management work.

Addressing concerns about GPs coping alone, the Minister said all Healthier SG GP clinics belong to Primary Care Networks (PCNs), through which they can draw on care coordinators and shared services. Eligible clinics also receive IT enablement grants to defray clinic management system costs, and may refer enrolled patients to Active Ageing Centres and Community Health Posts for social prescriptions and subsidised services such as medication management.

On building clinical capacity, the Minister said MOH encourages family doctors to complete the Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine or the Master of Medicine (Family Medicine) programmes, to attain higher clinical competencies and greater confidence in managing complex chronic conditions and coordinating care.

He noted that Family Medicine was recognised as a specialty in 2025, "partly in recognition of the critical role family physicians can play in managing patients with complex chronic conditions in the community."

The Minister did not provide requested data on clinic-level metrics such as referral waiting times for allied health support or the number of care coordinators available per Primary Care Network, matters that have surfaced in recent media accounts from family doctors. He said MOH closely monitors primary care caseload and regularly reviews medium to long-term manpower plans to ensure adequacy, without detailing specific staffing ratios at the clinic level.

The Parliamentary exchange follows recent reporting on ground-level pressures facing smaller clinics.

A CNA report, dated 18 May 2026, on family doctors described a Bedok clinic seeing around 30 per cent more patients seeking preventive and chronic care services, including vaccinations, diabetes and hypertension management, with the sole doctor there expecting demand to grow further as more conditions become eligible under the Community Health Assist Scheme and CDMP. Another clinic near Bras Basah Complex reported a 10 to 15 per cent rise in similar caseloads alongside rising operating costs.

Family doctors quoted in that report had called for more support, including additional care coordinators and faster access to allied health referrals, noting waiting times for services such as diabetic nurse counselling could stretch from several weeks to a month. They also raised the financial strain of absorbing rising costs while keeping fees affordable for patients, and sought clearer government support for the additional services now expected of community clinics.

The government's grant disbursement to family clinics rose 52 per cent from $230 million in 2022 to $350 million last year, averaging more than $140,000 per clinic, according to the earlier CNA report.

The Minister's reply in Parliament reaffirmed this same disbursement figure as part of the Ministry's response to the rising chronic disease burden on primary care, while pointing to workforce growth, IT support, PCN-based coordination and specialist training as complementary measures to sustain GPs' expanded role in population health.