SINGAPORE — Come 2018, a new infectious diseases hospital will be set up, giving the Republic the capability to contain the fight against an epidemic within this new facility, instead of locking down a general hospital as was the case during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2003.

Details are being worked out and will be announced in due course but the new hospital is likely to have more than 300 beds, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) Chief Executive Officer Philip Choo told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of a SARS commemorative ceremony.

The new hospital will be located opposite TTSH and will incorporate the existing Communicable Disease Centre. Professor Choo described it as a treatment facility with an “entire support system”, with various types of wards, intensive care units, laboratories, X-ray facilities and operating theatres. TTSH will be involved in the new facility’s development.

“Once it is up, it will put us in a far better position. It will be a new treatment facility (to) house the outbreak patients. In a medium-sized outbreak, we want to be able to contain it within a single place, and not take down one hospital,” said Prof Choo.

During the SARS crisis, TTSH was designated as the sole screening and treatment centre for suspected cases and Sars patients, with all other types of cases diverted to the other acute hospitals. Prof Choo noted that when a general hospital is locked down, “it creates a lot of stress” on the country’s healthcare system.