This report profiles Singapore’s health care industry, including a survey of the landscape of leading players such as IHH Healthcare, Raffles Medical Group (RMG), Health Management International (HMI), and Healthway Medical Corporation (HMC). Most of these firms also have a regional presence, particularly in China and India. Singapore’s United States-accredited institutions have helped make the country’s average life span the second-longest in the region (after Japan) and attract thousands of medical tourists each year, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Singapore’s health care system is internationally recognized and was ranked sixth out of 191 countries and first in Asia on health systems, hence allowing the country to be well poised to benefit from global trends. In 2012, Singapore’s health care services industry had a total of 4,600 establishments with over 70,000 employees working in the industry. Singapore’s public health care sector is managed by the MOH and affordable basic medical services are provided to all Singaporeans through subsidized medical services. The country aims to build 17 new and replacement nursing homes by 2016.

The health care services industry recorded operating receipts of SGD 10.53 billion in 2012, an increase of 8.55% over the previous year. According to the Singapore Tourism Board, about 885,000 foreign patients were treated in Singapore in 2012, up 15% over the previous year.

Key Points:

• Among the leading health care players in Singapore are IHH Healthcare Berhad, Raffles Medical Group, Health Management International Ltd, and Healthway Medical Corporation Ltd. IHH Healthcare is the largest healthcare provider in Singapore and one of the largest in Asia Pacific, with a presence in Malaysia, India, and China, among other countries.

• Singapore’s health facilities are accredited by the U.S.-based JCI.

• In 2012, Indonesians accounted for the largest share of medical tourists, at 47.2%, followed by Malaysians (11.5%), Bangladeshis (5%) and Vietnamese (4.1%).

• In Asia, Singapore’s average life expectancy (at 82 years) trails only that of Japan (at 83).