Singapore, with its well-established reputation for clinical and medical excellence, is poised to tap on this growing demand to entrench itself as a premier regional healthcare hub. Since the 1980's, Singapore's healthcare providers have been seeing an increasing number of international patients. Last year, this number exceeded 400,000. Singapore aims to attract 1 million international patients per year by 2012. Singapore faces tough challengers in this field, with both Malaysia and especially Thailand, heavily promoting their high quality and cost efficient medical services.

Making Singapore a regional medical hub is one of Ministry of Health's (MOH's) priorities. MOH has taken steps to raise the standard and quality of Singapore's medical and healthcare services including managing healthcare costs by promoting transparency in hospital bill sizes for common conditions. 

Singapore provides the complete spectrum of healthcare services from primary care such as health screening, to quaternary care services such as organ transplants. Foreign patients also come to Singapore for a broad range of specialist care including Cardiology, Gynaecology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Oncology, Otorhinolaryngology, Urology, Neurosurgery and Opthalmology, besides General Surgery and General Medicine.

Positioned as more than a centre for the treatment of illnesses, Singapore is also a destination where visitors can select from a wide range of services to enhance their health and well being. These include health screening, medical wellness, aesthetic and anti-ageing programmes.