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SINGAPORE – Patients who choose to stay in public hospitals’ subsidised wards in the future, especially at new hospitals, will most likely be placed in a ward with a maximum of six beds, instead of up to eight beds or more now. Ward layouts for new hospitals have been standardised with the launch of a new national framework– the Healthcare Facility Design Standards (HFDS) – on Dec 9 by the Ministry of Health (MOH). It paves the way for a possible merger between the two subsidised ward types – B2 and C – of which MOH said in 2021 that their physical differences “are no longer so obvious”. HFDS also standardises other features of public hospitals, such as plumbing systems and lifts. This brings about numerous benefits, including allowing new hospitals to be built faster, at a potentially lower cost. The new Tengah General and Community Hospital (TGCH) in Tengah Garden Avenue, the new Tan Tock Seng Hospital Medical Tower, and the redevelopment of the National University Hospital (NUH) in Kent Ridge are the first few projects to tap HFDS.   Ward layouts under HFDS, seen by The Straits Times, are made up of standard grids of 8.4m by 8.4m, with each bed and the space around it fitting into this grid. Such a layout allows for “easy reconfiguration of internal spaces without major structural changes while supporting future renovations, expansions or technology upgrades”.   The framework allows for three standardised general wards – A class with one bed, B1 class with four beds, and B2 or C class with six beds. Existing B2 class wards have either five or six beds. For C class wards, the number of beds ranges from five to 12, based on online checks.   HFDS was developed by MOH Holdings (MOHH) and all three public healthcare clusters, and drew from the best practices and lessons learnt from past projects. Associate Professor Victor Koh, TGCH’s pro tem chief executive, was asked if the hospital would fully adopt the standardised ward layout, and if it would have only one subsidised ward type. He said that as the first project using HFDS, TGCH is “still in the planning and exploration stage and learning how to interpret and apply HFDS to explore the reconfiguration of clinical spaces and ward layouts”. While a decision on ward types may not have been made for TGCH yet, MOH’s earlier remarks point to a possibility of public hospitals having only three general ward types in future. During the debate on MOH’s budget in Parliament in 2021, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Health, said the physical differences between the B2 and C class wards were “no longer so obvious, following infrastructural improvements to raise patient safety and infection control standards”. He was most likely referring to the number of beds, ventilation by fans and availability of an attached toilet. He said this when announcing that the subsidies between these two ward classes would be unified to a range of 50 per cent to 80 per cent for Singaporeans.   Similar costs As better means testing had been achieved, there was less of a need to rely on ward choice to differentiate the subsidy levels, said Dr Koh then.   In addition to the lack of physical differences between these two subsidised ward types, online checks also point to minimal differences between them in charges at most hospitals. The daily room rate for Singaporeans, assuming they receive the maximum subsidies, at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital’s 12-bed C-class ward is $51, $4 less than for the six-bed B2 wards. A stay in an NUH eight-bed C ward costs $52.40 a day, while the cost of stays at the hospital’s six-bed B2 wards is a notch higher at $57. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s (KKH) and Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) subsidised ward charges see larger differences. Stays in KKH’s six-bed B2 wards cost from $75.60 daily. Its C wards – also holding six beds for the women’s wards, but eight beds for the children’s wards – have a rate of $43.10 a day. Stays in SGH’s C wards (up to eight beds) are from $47.30 daily, $19.10 lower than for the B2 wards (up to six beds). Some hospitals also have different offerings for patients in B2 wards, compared with those in C wards. For instance, Sengkang General Hospital separates the shower from the toilet for its B2 wards, while its C wards have both facilities together. At Woodlands Health, patients of B2 and C wards may be placed in the same physical ward. Those in the B2 class are charged a daily rate of $64 and get a complimentary toiletry set and up to 14 different lunch or dinner options. Those in C class are charged $53 and get up to 10 meal options. Existing hospitals could convert wards during refurbishment Speaking to ST at the launch of HFDS, Mr Joseph Toh, a director at MOHH’s healthcare infrastructure projects division, said it is important to be prudent when spending public monies. Therefore, projects that have already begun may not be able to change their plans to comply with HFDS, to avoid aborting work done. However, Mr Toh also said that as HFDS was derived from best practices, these could probably have already been incorporated into a hospital’s designs. Existing hospitals can adopt HFDS when they are up for refurbishment or renewal, he said. On whether HFDS prescribes for the conversion of existing B2 wards to C wards or vice versa to achieve the standardised ward layout, Mr Toh said HFDS provides for operational flexibility to allow for ward conversion, if needed. The 1993 White Paper on Affordable Health Care stipulated that at least 65 per cent of public hospital beds were to be B2 or C beds, and A class beds were to comprise no more than 13 per cent.

ST understands that a 15-minute video call consultation with ZumVet cost $35, while a house call was at least $125, excluding medication. An in-clinic consultation was priced at $49 or more, depending on the services required and the time of the appointment. Zumvet was founded in 2019 by former Doctor Anywhere chief executive officer Athena Lee and aesthetic doctor Grace Su after a seven-figure seed round. In August 2022, The Business Times reported that ZumVet had raised US$3.7m (S$4.8m) in Series A funding led by Quest Ventures and existing investor Pine Venture Partners. Series A funding is the first round of institutional fundraising for a start-up after proving market viability and gaining early traction at the seed stage. However, a spokesman for Quest Ventures told ST on Dec 4 that it had divested its stake in Zumvet in 2024 and is therefore “no longer privy to its operations”.

Singapore is often praised for its thriving finance sector and is consistently ranked as one of the richest countries in the world. Now, according to new data, turns out some of that spending power might also be fuelling another booming economy… OnlyFans. Singapore has emerged as one of the highest-spending markets on subscription-based platform OnlyFans in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, according to newly released data from OnlyFans Wrapped 2025.   Singapore among top APAC countries Published by the specialised OnlyFans search engine site OnlyGuider, OnlyFans Wrapped 2025 compiles estimated spending data across countries and cities, using subscription prices, creator earnings trends and platform growth metrics to map global consumption patterns on OnlyFans.   The report shows that Singapore ranks among the top five APAC countries and cities by per-capita spending on OnlyFans in 2025, placing it alongside larger regional markets despite its relatively small population. Singapore, which the report describes as one of the “Asian tigers”, recorded per-capita spending of about US$44,000 (S$57,000 SGD), significantly higher than markets such as South Korea (S$5,320) and Japan (S$4,000). The report suggests this disparity may be due to strong domestic alternatives in the other two countries, such as local idol platforms that command significant market share, creating a “moat” against OnlyFans dominance.   Singapore also ranked among the top 10 highest-spending countries in the APAC region, though it still sits below our neighbour, Malaysia.   Singapore enters global top 20 cities by total spend The report also ranked cities worldwide by total spending on OnlyFans.   Singapore placed 19th globally, with total spending estimated at over US$26 million ( S$33.5 million) in 2025, putting it in the same bracket as major international cities and outstripping cities with bigger populations such as Las Vegas, Tokyo and Shanghai Singapore remained the only Southeast Asian city to break into the top 20.   Global trends   On a global scale, the United States continued to dominate OnlyFans spending, accounting for the largest share of total revenue, dropping an estimated US$2.64 billion (S$3.6 billion) on the platform in 2025, followed by countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada. According to the report, OnlyFans generated an estimated US$7.2 billion (S$9.8 billion) in global revenue in 2025, a boost from US$6.6 billion (S$8.9 billion) in 2024, reflecting steady year-on-year growth for the platform. https://mothership.sg/2025/12/onlyfans-2025-wrapped-singapore-spending/