National health plan home-grown, Wong says

MINISTER for Health and HIV/AIDS Jelta Wong says the National Health Plan 2021-2030 was home-grown to ensure that accessible, equitable healthcare is available to the people.
He said the seventh health plan since Independence, was developed over two years during the most challenging time when the Coronavirus (Covid-19) had overwhelmed the health system with added pressure and strain on the economy, making it more challenging to deliver health services.
Wong said in view of the lessons learned from the Covid-19, the emphasis of investing in long-term resilience to enable better response to future health emergencies and crisis was now the core priority.
“We want to establish a national institute of public health, incorporating the centres for disease control and health policy management,” he said.
“This will begin with the establishment of the national reference laboratory, which will be the focal point of networked laboratory services throughout the country.
“It will be responsible for standardisation of laboratory tests and equipment, improving our response and monitoring of disease outbreaks and surveillance.
“It will be developed gradually to include other aspects of the public health institute.”