National Centre For Infectious Diseases (Singapore)

05-Nov-2014
Groundbreaking Ceremony -
National Centre For Infectious Diseases (NCID)

The ceremony (3-Nov) was conducted with the guest-of-honour, Minister for Health and other invited guests. It marks the milestone of a new facility with increasing capacity and most importantly being future ready and creating a new workforce that is connected and aligned to the needs of the population.

The NCID is a 14-storey centre with 330-bed facility complete with isolation rooms, to better prepare Singapore against infectious outbreaks. It will have separate lifts for the patients, visitors and staff to reduce the risk of cross-infection. It will be a self-contained centre to confine treatment of infected patients within a single building. A key feature is its 'lockdown' facility. If a patient has a highly hazardous infection, he/she need not travel to other hospitals for any emergency studies or other requirements in clinical care. All cares can be provided within the NCID building.

Ground-breaking ceremony by Minister for Health including NHG Board Members

An artist impression of the design of the NCID

With the groundbreaking taking place, it also marked the development of the Healthcare Innovation Centre, a training and medical hub for healthcare professionals to better prepare against rising complexities in the acute and primary settings. 

The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) was officially opened by Minister for Health Mr Gan Kim Yong on 07 Sep 2019. NCID houses clinical services, public health functions, outbreak training, public education and community engagement in outbreak readiness under one roof to enable a comprehensive and integrated approach to handling infectious disease threats.  

Minister for Health together with NHG Senior Management Team

NCID will have its priority firmly set on the treatment and safety of patients, staff and the community. Equipped with necessary functions to shoulder the outbreak response for Singapore, NCID is a purpose built facility with both isolation and cohort wards and well-designed negative pressure rooms to tackle diseases transmitted through various modes including airborne, droplet and contact routes. Given the constant global movement of populations, no epidemic is too far away from home. 

A key feature of the centre is its high-level isolation unit (HLIU) for treating high-risk pathogens, including haemorrhagic fevers caused by the Ebola and Marbug viruses, as well as biothreat agents such as smallpox and anthrax. Patients with or suspected to have these diseases are brought in through a special pathway, including a lift just for them.The HLIU is a first in Singapore, Prof Leo, the MD of NCID said, "the unit has four negative-pressure rooms for patients as well as a laboratory for samples to be analysed on-site."

"If we need to confront conditions that are highly contagious, we can effectively lock down the unit while ensuring that patients can still receive the maximum level of care with all the integrated support facilities and infrastructure that are in the building." She added that the care received by HLIU patients is equivalent to that in an intensive care unit. All sections in the centre that handle patients or samples have special features to prevent further contamination.The building's ventilation system is designed for air to always flow from higher-pressure "clean" areas like the corridor to lower-pressure "dirty" areas such as the patient's room or laboratory suites where samples are analysed.

Air is passed through High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which remove 99.999 per cent of particulate matter, and are treated with ultraviolet radiation before being circulated out of the building.
An alarm is triggered if the doors are left open for too long. Separate doors leading in and out of rooms are also programmed to open one at a time to minimise contamination.
Besides providing clinical services, the NCID also houses public health, research and training facilities, as well as national programmes targeting specific diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis.The facilities include the National Public Health Laboratory, which conducts tests to track infectious diseases and detect emerging pathogens like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.


Ref:https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health