Surgery in Singapore

Since Singapore became an independent nation about 50 years ago, remarkable progress has been made in the development and organization of the health care system, specialty services, graduate training, and medical research. The primitive health care service under the British colonial service before the Second World War which was further ravaged in the 1940s by the Japanese occupation has been radically transformed in a short period. Singapore has a modern health care service, excellent hospital facilities, an affordable health financing system, adequate medical manpower including specialists, and a postgraduate organization for the training of medical specialists. The advancement in surgical services has reached a high level where all forms of modern surgery, including laparoscopic and endoscopic operations, are routine and major bone and joint replacements, heart and liver transplantations, and complex neurosurgical and craniofacial operations are frequently carried out.