06/03/2025
On 20 September 2023, the Alliance of Patients’ Organizations Singapore (APOS) was registered with ACRA, marking a significant milestone in enhancing patient engagement within the healthcare system. The concept for this umbrella organization was first proposed on 18 November 2021 during a virtual event hosted by the Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE) together with the Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE), Ministry of Health (MOH).
The journey towards establishing APOS gained momentum when Ms. Nidhi Swarup, a patient advocate, presented the idea during the CoRE Scientific Conference in October 2022. Following this, numerous one-on-one discussions were held with healthcare stakeholders.
In April 2023, a brainstorming session was convened with diverse stakeholders to solidify the concept of a new organization. With robust support from the team at the SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network (SPAN), the new organization was co-founded by Prof. Tan Kok Hian, Mr. Chew Kim Soon, and Ms. Nidhi Swarup. This initiative was made possible through seed funding from the Rotary Club of Raffles City.
In collaboration with various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health (MOH), Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE), Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI), Medical Schools, public hospital clusters namely SingHealth, National University Hospital System (NUHS), National Healthcare Group (NHG), private companies, philanthropic organizations and the World Health Organization (WHO), APOS aims to co-create healthcare in Singapore.
Through these strategic partnerships and educational programs, APOS aims to empower patients to actively participate in their healthcare journey by contributing ideas for improved patient outcomes, better technologies, as well as higher quality of care. In doing these, patients will co-create a truly patient-centered healthcare system.
