Singapore to build new infectious disease hospital

Singapore will have a new separate infectious disease hospital by 2018, the chief executive of a public hospital said on Wednesday.The new hospital is aimed to be at a single and self-contained location to control a medium-sized outbreak, said Philip Choo, chief executive officer of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital."We want to be able to contain it in a single place and not take down one hospital, because this is a very big general hospital. If you take down one hospital off then it creates a lot of stress on the other systems," Choo said on the sidelines of an event to mark 10 years after the battle against the SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.The new facility will house patients with infectious diseases and will have intensive care units, laboratories and X-ray centers, he said.The current Communicable Disease Center is part of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which led the efforts to fight the SARS outbreak in 2003.With more space, the new facility will put Singapore in a better position to handle outbreaks. Infectious disease specialists and building up research capabilities are just as important.Tan Tock Seng Hospital also plans to develop more effective strategies against disease outbreaks. It will enhance academic work, work to improve the reach of vaccination in the community, ensure the appropriate use of antibiotics and help the community learn more about infections and control.Some 200 representatives, including senior management of other hospitals, doctors, nurses and healthcare workers, attended the commemoration ceremony.