All 3 public healthcare clusters experiencing system disruption, no indication of cyber incident: Health tech agency

UPDATE on Oct. 13 at 6:01pm: By 4:37pm, all affected services were restored, according to health tech agency Synapxe.

All three public healthcare clusters in Singapore — NHG Health, National University Health System and SingHealth — are experiencing connectivity issues that is affecting some services.

The affected services include patient-facing systems like appointment booking through call centres, visitor registration and billing enquiries.

It was reported earlier today (Oct. 13) that call centre lines across NHG health, including four hospitals, were temporarily unavailable.

The service disruption then grew to include National University Hospital and Singapore General Hospital by noon time.

No indication of cyber incident: health tech agency

In a statement on Facebook, national health tech agency Synapxe said that as a result of the connectivity issues, patients and visitors may experience longer waiting times for some services as a result.

Synapxe also noted that there is no indication that this is a cyber incident.

"We understand the inconvenience this may cause, especially for patients and visitors who are at our healthcare institutions," Synapxe said.

"We sincerely apologise for the disruption and thank you for your patience and understanding. We will continue to keep you updated as services are progressively restored," the agency added.

The agency also said that its technical teams are working urgently to resolve the issue and restore services as soon as possible.

According to its website, Synapxe manages systems such as the National Electronic Health Record system and the National Billing System.

At the time of writing, a banner notice atop NHG Health's website indicates that its call centre lines across the healthcare group remain temporarily unavailable and that a system disruption is affecting some services.

It also states that additional staff have been deployed to assist with patient services on site.

A similar notice was shared on NUHS' Facebook page at around 11:23am today.

Signages seen at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital

When Mothership visited Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) at around 3:15pm, signage informing patients of the service disruption were seen at the outpatient pharmacy and patient services counter.

KTPH is under NHG Health.

The pharmacy also informed that medication processing may take slightly longer.

Yishun Community Hospital, also under NHG Health and located beside KTPH, had no public indication of a disruption to services.

Operations were observed to be running smoothly at both hospitals.

Calls to Sengkang General Hospital, Changi General Hospital (CGH) and KK Women's and Children's Hospital, all under SingHealth, were successful.

However, the CGH operator informed that longer waiting times may be expected due to the service disruption.

All services restored

In an update on Facebook, Synapxe shared that all affected services were restored by 4:37pm on Oct. 13.

The connectivity issue which resulted in the service disruption began at around 7:10am the same day.

Services were progressively restored from approximately 3pm.

Investigations into the technical issues are ongoing.