Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Heng Chee How officiated at the ceremony to mark the opening of the next-generation Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) medical centre at Tengah Air Base this afternoon.

The new medical centre incorporates pandemic-ready infrastructural and technological features. These include isolation rooms with separate ventilation systems to prevent contamination of airflow, a Swab Management System to increase the efficiency of the swab administration process, and other purpose-built infrastructural features which will aid the medical centre in responding to pandemics.

The next-generation medical centre also aims to deliver high quality healthcare services through incorporating technology and innovative concepts. Designated as a medical innovation testbed for innovative concepts to improve healthcare service delivery, the medical centre is currently facilitating trials for remote queue management and location pinning to facilitate ambulance dispatch during medical emergencies. The medical centre is also exploring a fully contactless and seamless healthcare experience that would be enabled by telemedicine consultation, contactless vital signs measurement and a smart locker medication dispensing system.

Speaking after a tour of the medical centre, Mr Heng highlighted the significance of the RSAF's newest medical facility. He said, "The Tengah Air Base Medical Centre…incorporates many of the lessons learnt from past pandemics – for example, SARS and H1N1 – into the design of the infrastructure, workflow, the use of technology, and the training. It so happens, that the whole world got hit by COVID-19 as well." He added, "It must be our goal to keep the lives of our servicemen and their fighting fitness as secure as possible…so that every soldier, every airman, every sailor is able to be as fighting fit for as long as possible. This enables our personnel to discharge their core capability to defend Singapore for Singaporeans."

Guests at the opening ceremony included the Chief of Air Force Major-General Kelvin Khong, Commander Air Power Generation Command Brigadier-General Ho Yung Peng, Chief Air Force Medical Officer Colonel (Dr) Benjamin Tan, and other senior officers from the RSAF.