Ailing hospital bed shortage to persist till 2016

Nearly 2 beds per 1000 people are just not enough.

Singapore has a lower bed ratio (2.22 beds per 1,000 people in 2010) than other developed nations, according to Frost & Sullivan. CIMB notes that though the government has been increasing bed capacity at public hospitals periodically (through expansion and new developments), public hospitals are still unable to cater to rising demand for hospital beds.

Here's more from CIMB:

Frost & Sullivan believes that a desirable bed ratio for an economy like Singapore’s is 2.98 beds per 1,000 people (average of bed ratios in the US, UK, Italy and France). Applying this over its population as projected by the IMF, Frost & Sullivan estimates a significant shortfall in the supply of hospital beds, till as late as 2016.

With capacity constraints in public and other private hospitals, patient loads for RFMD’s flagship Raffles Hospital have been good.