Post by Singapore General Hospital

Public health specialists are more important than ever.   In a post-COVID world, and as Singapore tackles an ageing population, rising chronic disease burden, and the need to shift care beyond hospitals and into the community, public health expertise has become increasingly critical, including within tertiary hospitals.   While public health specialists have traditionally been associated with community health, policy, and population-level work, their role within tertiary hospitals has historically been less clearly defined. To contribute to this important conversation, SGH and SingHealth authors have published a commentary in the Singapore Medical Journal titled “The role of public health specialists in tertiary hospitals in Singapore”.   While not exhaustive, the paper provides a useful framework for understanding how public health specialists can strengthen tertiary hospitals as they evolve from centres of acute care to institutions that also help shape the long-term health of their catchment populations.   The commentary was led by Dr Hao Yi Tan, Chief Resident of the National Preventive Medicine Residency, under the mentorship of DGCEO Prof Chien Earn Lee, and reflects a collaborative effort by colleagues across SGH and SingHealth.   The authors include Dr Muhammad Taufeeq Wahab, A/Prof Jason CH Yap, Dr Chuan-Kit Foo, Dr Ruban Poopalalingam, Prof Hiang Khoon Tan, and A/Prof Wee-Hoe GAN. #PublicHealth #PreventiveMedicine #PopulationHealth #HealthierSG #HealthcareTransformation #SGH #SingHealth