Ministry of Health (Singapore)

The Ministry of Health (MOH; ; ; ) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for managing the public healthcare system in Singapore.

History In March 2026, MOH's Chinese name was updated from "卫生部" to "保健卫生部" in presenting the full duties of the ministry of health care and hygiene. Only the Chinese name of the ministry was changed.

Statutory boards

Health Promotion Board Health Sciences Authority Communicable Diseases Agency Singapore Dental Council Singapore Medical Council Singapore Nursing Board Singapore Pharmacy Council Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board

Ministers The Ministry is headed by the Minister for Health, who is appointed as part of the Cabinet of Singapore.

Minister Took office Left office Party Cabinet A. J. BragaMP for Katong(1900–1968)6 April19553 June1959LF(until 1958)MarshallLimSPA(from 1958)Ahmad IbrahimMP for Sembawang(1927–1962)5 June195924 September1961PAPLee K. IK. M. ByrneMP for Crawford(1913–1990)24 September196118 October1963PAPYong Nyuk LinMP for Geylang West(1918–2012)19 October196315 April1968PAPLee K. IIChua Sian ChinMP for MacPherson(1933–2014)16 April19681 June1975PAPLee K. IIILee K. IVToh Chin ChyeMP for Rochore(1921–2012)2 June19755 January1981PAPLee K. VGoh Chok TongMP for Marine Parade(born 1941)6 January198131 May1982PAPLee K. VIHowe Yoon ChongMP for Potong Pasir(1923–2007)1 June19821 January1985PAPTony TanMP for Sembawang(born 1940)2 January19856 May1985PAPLee K. VIIRichard HuMP for Kreta Ayer(1926–2023)7 May198531 December1986PAPYeo Cheow TongMP for Hong Kah (until 1988) and Hong Kah GRC (from 1988)(born 1947)1 January19871 January1994PAPLee K. VIIIGoh IGoh IIGeorge YeoMP for Aljunied GRC(born 1954)2 January199424 January1997PAPYeo Cheow TongMP for Hong Kah GRC(born 1947)25 January19972 June1999PAPGoh IIILim Hng KiangMP for West Coast GRC(born 1954)3 June199931 July2003PAPGoh IVKhaw Boon WanMP for Tanjong Pagar GRC (until 2006) and Sembawang GRC (from 2006)(born 1952)1 August200311 August2004PAP12 August200420 May2011Lee H. ILee H. IIGan Kim YongMP for Chua Chu Kang GRC(born 1959)21 May201114 May2021PAPLee H. IIILee H. IVLee H. VOng Ye KungMP for Sembawang GRC(born 1969)15 May2021IncumbentPAP Wong I Wong II

Incidents

SingHealth data breach (2018)

Between June and July 2018, personal data of 1.5 million patients was exfiltrated as a result of a cyberattack on SingHealth, which is the largest group of healthcare institutions in Singapore and is wholly owned by MOH.

HIV data leak (2019) On 28 January 2019, sensitive information including names, identification numbers, phone numbers, addresses and HIV test results of 12,400 HIV-positive people were leaked online due to mishandling of the information by then-staff member, Ler Teck Siang. Ler, who was the head of National Public Health Unit at MOH at the time, had access to the information and had not complied with the Ministry of Health's security guidelines. Ler downloaded the information on to a personal thumb drive, which his then-boyfriend Mikhy K Farrera Brochez had leaked online subsequently. Minister of Health, Gan Kim Yong, explained that data leak had not been announced earlier, so as to safeguard the patients' well-being.

Community Health Assist Scheme computer system error (2019) On 16 February 2019, MOH released a public statement admitting that there had been an error in computer systems managed by NCS that were used in relation to the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS). The error resulted in a miscalculation of the amount of health care subsidies applicants were eligible to receive through means-testing, such that approximately 1,300 people received lower subsidies and 6,400 people received higher subsidies.

The first discrepancy in a result of a CHAS card holder was detected on 24 September 2018 by MOH. NCS was informed immediately. NCS had initially attributed the issue to intermittent network connection problems. Between 9 October 2018 and 2 November 2018, another 5 more cases involving discrepancies were detected, prompting the launch of a more in-depth investigation. In November 2018, NCS traced the cause of the discrepancies to a software version issue used on a server used by the system. The identified issue occurred during a migration of the system to another government data center in September 2018. The software version issue was resolved as part of other changes made to address an unrelated performance issue on 10 October 2018. However, incorrect results that had been generated between 18 September 2018 and 10 October 2018 remained in the system.

Remedial actions were then carried out by MOH and NCS to assess impact on the affected applicants. MOH announced that it would work with grant scheme administrators and healthcare institutions to follow up with notifications and reimbursement to the affected applicants. According to media reports, MOH intended to recover costs and expenses arising from this incident from NCS as MOH was entitled to pursuant to the contract between the parties.

Ministry of Health (Singapore)

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