Singapore’s healthtech market is expected to experience massive growth, as mergers and acquisitions and venture financing improve in the country’s health market, according to GlobalData.

This is buoyed by growing awareness on healthcare, increased research, favorable regulatory scheme under the Smart Nation initative and the increased need for digital consultations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the healthtech sector in Singapore.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Singapore Healthcare, Regulatory and Reimbursement Landscape – CountryFocus’ the total healthtech deals in Singapore were valued at more than $1billion in 2020, with venture financing and M&A accounting for more than 75 per cent of the deal’s value.

Singapore government’s Smart Nation initiative is expected to further drive strategic collaborations in the field of healthtech in the country.

Vinita Sippy, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, commented:

“Majority of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A’s) and venture financing in Singapore’s healthtech sector are mostly focused on artificial intelligence (AI), big data and telemedicine. While M&A’s will continue to remain higher in value, venture financing is expected to grow at a faster pace.”
Vinta Sippy, Medical Devices Analyst, GlobalData

Driven by the increasing use of digital healthcare solutions, the Ministry of Health, Singapore developed a Healthcare Cybersecurity Essentials program under the Healthcare Services Act to safeguard the assets and data. This is intended to help in preventing cybercrime and increase the sustainability of technology uptake in the country, GlobalData said.

“The recent collaboration between National Supercomputing Centre Singapore and National University Health System is expected to result in building a petabyte-scale edge supercomputing infrastructure, ‘Prescience’. This investment will also support the national Artificial Intelligence (AI) healthcare initiatives and allow clinical researchers to run complex healthcare models.”
Vinta Sippy, Medical Devices Analyst, GlobalData

Singapore’s Health Market Focused on Health Technology

It is the country’s aim to provide smart healthcare to people with the help of novel technologies, which is helping the country to withstand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on its healthcare system. Singapore’s healthcare market is a strongly growing market in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on health technology and research & development.

Additionally, telemedicine, electronic health records, patient solutions, medical diagnostics, health management solutions, personal health and fitness, and medical education are some of the areas where technology plays a major role.

Pratibha Thammanabhatla, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “The COVID-19 pandemic and the rapidly aging population are driving the demand for innovative medical technologies in Singapore.”

Polyclinics in Singapore are adopting new technologies such as virtual systems, and this is making the healthcare delivery more accessible and affordable, especially during the pandemic. These virtual systems provide faster services to patients while eliminating incidental costs that accompany hospital visits, and help the physician attend to more patients each day.

“There has been a significant rise in the development and deployment of transformational technologies in healthcare system during the pandemic in Singapore, and this demonstrates the commitment of the country in achieving its aim of providing technology-driven healthcare solutions to its citizens.”
Pratibha Thammanabhatla, Medical Devices Analyst, GlobalData