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‘Pandemic-ready’ RSAF medical centre opens at Tengah Air Base, digital elements may be adopted across SAF

SINGAPORE — Five years ago before the world knew Covid-19, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) was designing a medical centre in anticipation of a future pandemic happening.

Servicemen from the Republic of Singapore Air Force giving a demonstration at the outdoor swab testing booth of a new medical centre at Tengah Air Base.

Servicemen from the Republic of Singapore Air Force giving a demonstration at the outdoor swab testing booth of a new medical centre at Tengah Air Base.

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  • A new RSAF medical centre was opened in February
  • It has a swab test drive-through, isolation rooms and teleconsultation services
  • If trials prove successful, these features could be adopted by other SAF medical centres

 

SINGAPORE — Five years ago before the world knew Covid-19, the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) was designing a medical centre in anticipation of a future pandemic happening.

When the medical centre finally started operations in February this year for its servicemen, in the early stage of the Covid-19 outbreak here, it already had a drive-through for personnel to get a swab test, as well as isolation rooms. It also offered teleconsultation services from July, all prepared to handle the disease outbreak. 

The facility is located at Tengah Air Base and was officially opened on Wednesday (Nov 4). Four other medical centres run by RSAF are located at Changi, Chong Pang, Paya Lebar and Sembawang.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force’s new medical centre at Tengah Air Base was officially opened on Nov 4, 2020. Photo: Ministry of Defence

 

RSAF drew from Singapore’s past experiences with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003 and the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009 when it was conceptualising the medical centre.

Major (Dr) Aaron Chua, 31, head of medical operations at the Air Power Generation Command, said that the centre “came at just the right time”.

Some of its features proved helpful during this pandemic, he said, such as the drive-through swab test that was conducted for some servicemen.

The outdoor foyer and dispensary window have also been used whenever the doctors need to examine any servicemen with respiratory symptoms.

WHY IT MATTERS

The medical centre at Tengah Air Base is now functioning as a testbed for new technology and processes, and many of these are on trial. 

For example, it is testing a digital queue management system where servicemen may book an appointment before heading down to the medical centre, as well as a smart locker medication-dispensing system that allows servicemen to collect their medicine at their own convenience.

If these trials prove successful, these features may be adopted by other medical centres across the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).

Mr Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State for Defence, who officiated the opening ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, said that a strong medical service is critical to ensure soldiers remain fit to fight.

“To preserve the fighting ability of your service personnel is key, what more for a small country like Singapore with our limited population,” he said. 

In times of a pandemic, “if we do not have the means to control and manage it, it can very quickly degrade the fighting capacities of the SAF”, he added.

Mr Heng Chee How (right), Senior Minister of State for Defence, testing a new app on trial at the Tengah Air Base medical centre. Photo: Daryl Choo/TODAY

THE NEW DESIGN ELEMENTS

Colonel (Dr) Benjamin Tan, 42, chief air force medical officer, said that many of the features that make the new centre “pandemic-ready” are simple structural designs that make a difference.

“They may seem underwhelming, but… all these small details that we implemented were really important,” he said.

They include: 

  • A sheltered driveway that allows drive-through swab tests to be conducted, without the patient having to leave the vehicle

  • A dispensary window where patients with respiratory illnesses can collect medication from outside the building without risking infection to other patients inside

  • A sheltered outdoor foyer, where a swab booth was placed to minimise contamination and disease transmission to other patients 

  • Patients suspected of having an infectious disease can be assessed outdoors and routed to an isolation room upstairs via a separate entrance without entering the main waiting area 

  • Isolation rooms with ventilation systems separate from the rest of the building to limit the spread of airborne diseases. Those suspected of having Covid-19, for example, wait in these rooms while an ambulance arrives to transport them to the hospital

  • Large indoor waiting area without built-in seats so that chairs can be arranged as needed to ensure safe distances between patients

  • A smart ventilation system where the direction of airflow can be adjusted in the event of a pandemic

  • A digital identity verification and labelling system for managing swabs that has been in use for Covid-19 testing at Tengah Air Base

An isolation room with a segregated ventilation system at the Tengah Air Base medical centre. Photo: Daryl Choo/TODAY

THE NEW DIGITAL PROCESSES

The medical centre boasts numerous new innovations that are technologically advanced, such as a mobile application that can read a user’s heart rate and oxygen saturation with just a front-facing camera. 

To make it more convenient for servicemen to access healthcare services, many different apps are being tested, but plans are underway to integrate all these into one app in the future.

The new apps and processes in use include:

  • A mobile healthcare app for remote consultations through video calls 

  • A vital signs measurement app that uses remote optical technology to measure a patient’s heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation through a front-facing mobile camera pointed at the face

  • A smart locker medication-dispensing system that allows servicemen to collect their medicine, including after a teleconsultation session, at their own convenience

  • A digital queue management system where servicemen may book an appointment before heading down to the medical centre to cut down on waiting time

  • An emergency medical support app that allows first-responders to pinpoint the casualty’s exact location

  • A streamlined health screening process that does not require servicemen to visit the medical centre twice, unless there is a health problem

  • Allowing operationally ready national servicemen to book appointments at the medical centre in the evening

  • Medics getting a new medical tunic instead of wearing their usual uniforms

  • Better training programmes and tools allow smaller medical teams to perform the same tasks as before

Lance-Corporal Darren Chua, 21, a full-time national serviceman serving as an administrative medic-in-charge, said: “The apps have helped us improve the workflow.

“Now that we've gone digital, we’ve also seen a reduction in the number of phone calls directed to our medical centre, which allows our medics to focus on providing better customer experience to our patients.”

Related topics

RSAF Tengah Air Base medical centre Covid-19 swab test

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