National Centre for Infectious Diseases

The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (Abbreviation: NCID; Malay: Pusat Nasional bagi Penyakit Berjangkit; Tamil: தேசிய தொற்றுநோய் மையம்; Chinese: 国家传染病中心), previously known as the Communicable Disease Centre (Abbreviation: CDC), is a national public health institute under the Ministry of Health of Singapore. Located next to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Novena, all patients within the city-state who are affected with a highly contagious disease are also quarantined at the NCID and is used to control an outbreak of such diseases.[1] The executive director of the hospital is Professor Yee-Sin Leo.[2]

National Centre for Infectious Diseases
Ministry of Health (Singapore)
A view of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and Centre for Healthcare Innovation
Geography
Location16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 308442, Singapore
Coordinates1°19′13″N 103°51′3″E
Organisation
Care systemPublic
Services
Beds330 (500 during outbreaks)
History
Opened7 September 2019 (2019-09-07)
Links
Websitencid.sg

History

Prior to the establishment of a quarantine facility at Moulmein Road, there existed a quarantine camp at Balestier in 1907.[3][4] Opened in 1913, the quarantine facility at Moulmein Road was initially known as the Isolation Hospital.[3] It was later renamed to the Middleton Hospital in 1920, in recognition of Dr. W.R.C Middleton, who had served the hospital for 27 years, upon his retirement.[5][6] The centre became a branch of Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in 1985, was renamed the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC), and came under the management of the National Healthcare Group.[7] On 1 April 1995, it came under TTSH's direct administration.[8]

In March 2003, CDC was the central point of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Singapore. As fully isolated rooms were limited, existing HIV patients had to be moved elsewhere within the centre while patients with skin conditions had to be discharged to make way to quarantine suspected SARS patient.[9] As the outbreak wore on, TTSH took over as the main hospital to quarantine and treat SARS patients on 22 March 2003.[10][11]

On 13 August 2003, an existing TTSH block adjacent to the CDC was renovated to be used as containment wards and served as CDC 2.[7] This block was initially refurnished for Ren Ci Community Hospital, the SARS outbreak put a break to the plan.[12]

On 13 December 2018, CDC ceased operations as a medical facility, concluding its 111 years of operations.[13] All operations moved to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, a new building opposite the main Tan Tock Seng Hospital building. Operational in May 2019, the new facility has a 330-bed capacity and is designed to manage an outbreak the size of the SARS outbreak.[14]

On 7 September 2019, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases was officially opened by Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong. It has state-of-the-art technologies and tracks patients in the building to prevent the spread of outbreaks. In addition, the building houses Singapore's first high-level isolation unit for highly contagious, even lethal diseases like Ebola.[1]

The NCID is currently being used as an isolation facility for patients infected with COVID-19 during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[15]

Access

The medical facility is located close to Novena MRT station on the North South line.

There is also a full-day shuttle bus service for both staff and the public. The pick-up point is located within HealthCity Novena, with an added location to Whampoa Market from 11:00 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. The shuttle bus has a limited seating capacity of 23 pax per trip.

See also

References
  1. Lai, Linette (7 September 2019). "New infectious disease centre tracks everyone in the building in case of outbreak". The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  2. "Professor Leo Yee-Sin - National Centre for Infectious Diseases". www.ncid.sg. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. "LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  4. "The Origins of Singapore's Communicable Disease Centre: Hanging Fire". Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  5. "Dr Middleton's Retirement". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  6. "Middleton Hospital on Moulmein Road. It was set up in 1907 …". www.nas.gov.sg. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  7. "Communicable Disease Centre | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  8. "Communicable Disease Centre comes under TTSH's wings". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  9. Tai, Janice (15 October 2018). "Harbhajan Singh: A lifetime of nursing work helped when Sars struck". The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  10. Chee, Yam Cheng (November 2003). "SARS @ TTSH (Part 8)" (PDF). SMA News. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  11. Seow, E. (1 November 2003). "SARS: experience from the emergency department, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore". Emergency Medicine Journal. 20 (6): 501–504. doi:10.1136/emj.20.6.501. ISSN 1472-0205. PMC 1726235. PMID 14623831.
  12. "The Chronicles of CDC 2 (Part 2) - Tan Tock Seng Hospital". www.ttsh.com.sg. Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  13. Neo, Xiaobin (17 December 2018). "Farewell, Black Lion of Moulmein: Old compound of Communicable Disease Centre closes". The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  14. Kurohi, Rei (16 January 2019). "New centre to bolster Singapore's infectious disease management". The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  15. Seet, Benjamin (17 March 2020). "Commentary: Why Singapore is better prepared to handle COVID-19 than SARS". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
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