The National University of Singapore (NUS) launched the NUS Initiative to Improve Health in Asia (NIHA). NIHA seeks to contribute towards public healthcare policy formulation and health systems development in Asia. The initiative is being coordinated by the NUS Global Asia Institute (NUS-GAI) in collaboration with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and the NUS Business School.

In September 2011, the government announced that it would increase funding for healthcare to meet the demands of an aging population. With this the country's healthcare expenditure is likely to exceed the current four percent of GDP. Similarly, to promote the growth of the clinical research activities, the government announced the launch of Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) program with an investment of $4.9 million.

According to reports, the government is also looking at including more drugs to its standard drug list. Currently, the list comprises 1,000 drugs that are considered cost effective. The MoH is in discussion with doctors for additions in the list's yearly review.

The medical device industry of the country has grown at a consistent pace and stood at $357 million in 2011. In conjunction with R&D, medical technology is another sector on which Singapore is leveraging its potential. EDB is running Medtech IDEAS (Innovate, Design, Engineer for Asia in Singapore) programme to train multidisciplinary teams of engineers, specialists, and regulatory experts in companies' global and Singapore-based R&D facilities. Also, the country has formed Singapore-Stanford Biodesign Programme, designed to meet the medtech industry's need for Asian medical device innovators who are familiar with the medtech innovation process as well as Asia's healthcare needs.

Industry size

According to Business Monitor International (BMI) report, Singapore pharmaceutical market touched $716 million in 2011 and is expected to reach $729 million by 2012. Similarly, the healthcare market for the island nation is estimated to see a growth of 1.5 percent in 2012 from $9.06 billion in 2011. However, medical devices market is likely to remain flat at $357 million in 2012. BMI noted that the healthcare expenditure of Singapore in 2011 stood at $9.06 billion which is estimated to grow marginally to $9.19 billion in 2012. Similarly, Espicom has placed Singapore's medical device market at $355 million in 2011, similar to that of the Philippines and Slovenia.