- Celebrating the opening of the StarMed Medical Centre for Migrant Workers and launch of StarMed’s occupational health service.
- Addressing occupational safety and health risks through our innovative community-based integrated care approach.
- Improving access to specialist care for migrant workers with StarMed’s own pilot Specialist Care Plan.
Singapore (03 June 2022) – HMI Group celebrates the opening of the StarMed Medical Centre for Migrant Workers and launch of StarMed’s occupational health service. The launch event took place at StarMed Specialist Centre (StarMed) today with Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, as the event Guest-of-Honour.
To support the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) effort to improve access to good quality and affordable healthcare for migrant workers, a key workforce in Singapore, HMI Group partnered with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to scale up primary healthcare delivery efficiently during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, StarMed continues this partnership as one of the four Anchor Operators providing care to about 43,000 migrant workers under MOM’s new primary healthcare system for migrant workers, which was launched in April 2022. StarMed offers the Primary Care Plan (PCP) which meets most of the primary healthcare needs of migrant workers in our community.
Commitment to the health and safety of the communities we serve is a key priority of HMI Group. Recognising that migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to certain occupational safety and health risks, the launch of the StarMed MCMW will provide a range of quality primary and occupational health services, as well as medical diagnostics and specialist care, where appropriate, under one roof.
Located conveniently above Farrer Park MRT station, StarMed is the first to bring a comprehensively integrated, out-of-hospital medical and surgical services under one roof to Singapore. This unique community-based integrated care approach reduces the need for a patient to transfer from one location to another, shortens waiting time and lowers cost barriers to accessing specialist, diagnostic, day surgery and rehabilitation services.
Commenting on the approach to integrated care services for migrant workers, CEO, StarMed Specialist Centre, Dr Louis Tan said “Our time serving the migrant worker community during the pandemic gave us first hand insights into their healthcare needs. Migrant workers often fall through the gaps at transitions of care within and across primary and specialty care services. Generally, 2% of all migrant workers we saw in primary care may need specialist attention, but less than a quarter of them eventually saw one. This is why we are now leveraging StarMed’s integrated care model to pilot our own Specialist Care Plan to complement MOM’s PCP. We believe treating complex medical issues early can avoid expensive and time-consuming hospital admissions and doing so will have a positive impact on the health and productivity of workers and companies respectively.”
StarMed’s pilot Specialist Care Plan for migrant workers aims to help lower the cost barriers and help make meaningful strides to improve their access to specialist care. The plan is a new effort to support medically underserved patients, focusing on increasing specialty care availability, ensuring high-quality care and helping patients engage in care.
Guided by our community pledge of “Together, building a healthier society”, HMI Group looks forward to collaborate with employers, industry partners and policy makers to adapt and improve our healthcare system to keep our migrant workers healthy, safe and supported.
