Longer waiting times at hospital A&E departments likely due to post-public holiday surge

MOH said that hospitals will maintain prompt triage procedures to quickly identify patients with critical medical conditions. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Sherlyn Sim

UPDATED May 16, 2025, 06:59 PM

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SINGAPORE – The high volume of patients at several hospitals’ emergency departments (EDs) this week, which has resulted in longer waiting times, is likely due to a post-public holiday surge in demand.

In response to media queries, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on May 16 that acute hospitals can experience higher attendances at their EDs during specific times of the year, and that the current rise in wait times at hospitals is consistent with with the typical post-public holiday surge .

On May 14 , Changi General Hospital (CGH) and Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) announced in seperate Facebook posts that they have been seeing a high volume of patients at their EDs.

MOH said that in spite of the increased patient volumes at the ED, hospitals will maintain prompt triage procedures to quickly identify patients with critical medical conditions. This ensures that these patients are attended to urgently and patient care is not compromised.