| By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent | ||
 |  | Pressure on nursing homes here, like the Society for the Aged Sick, will increase as the population ages. Work on five new nursing homes will start within two years. -- ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN |
To cope, the Health Ministry will add more than 2,000 nursing home beds over the next five years - with about half devoted to the care of the mentally ill.
In the Health Addendum to the President's Address at the opening of Parliament on Monday, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan spoke of the need to prepare for a 'silver tsunami'.
The population here is ageing rapidly. The number of people who are over 65 years old is expected to treble to 900,000 by 2030 - from 300,000 today.
This is the driving force behind the development of a second heart and cancer centre, a new general hospital in Yishun and another in Jurong, and the expansion of the National University Health System's dental centre.
'We will increase our subventions to intermediate and long-term care facilities to help them meet growing patient needs,' said Mr Khaw. These include community hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.
Work on five new nursing homes will start within two years, including a 300-bed home for patients with psychiatric problems to be ready by 2012.
The ministry will also be releasing two plots of land for the building of private nursing homes. And it will help two existing homes run by voluntary welfare organisations (VWO) to relocate to new and larger facilities.
To help patients pay for all these services, the ministry will develop the 3Es - Eldersave, ElderShield and Elderfund.
Mr Khaw also touched on palliative care or the management of pain, and the need to let the elderly sick die with dignity, a theme he has touched on several times this year.
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