Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has since tightened restrictions on its admissions in response to the growing number of Covid-19 cases linked to the TTSH cluster.
TTSH announced today (May 4) on Facebook that it is ceasing admissions.
It advised those who require urgent care to head over to a General Practitioner (GP) clinic or the nearest care facility.
The hospital said that this new restriction will allow the hospital to focus on containing the Covid-19 cluster within, conserve manpower and continue supporting the pandemic response at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
There is no word yet on when the hospital will start admitting patients again.
Load-balancing
TTSH has been progressively ceasing admissions of new inpatient cases since May 2, according to the Ministry of Health.
All Singapore Civil Defence Force ambulance cases have been diverted to other public and private hospitals for the purpose of load-balancing.
Additionally from May 3, some hospitals have also started deploying doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to assist TTSH teams in caring for their existing patients.
Other measures include deferring the appointments of non-urgent cases which require Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOC) services at TTSH, as well as imposing stricter triaging criteria for visitors.
However, MOH reiterated that "no hospital is denying medical care to patients who need it."
As of May 3, there are 35 Covid-19 cases linked to the TTSH cluster.
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Top photo from TTSH / FB