Singapore, Taguig City ink healthcare agreements

Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, her husband Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratman, his spouse Mrs. Jane Shanmugaratman, and other key officials attend the ceremony on August 16, Friday at Fort Bonifacio to strengthen healthcare opportunities in the city. (Photo courtesy of I Love Taguig/Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — Taguig City signed two agreements for healthcare opportunities with Singapore on Friday, following the visit of Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to the country to strengthen ties focusing on healthcare and economic development.

“The first initiative, a Public-Private-Philanthropic Partnership led by CareSpan Asia Inc. and Temasek Foundation, is set to provide primary healthcare access to 350,000 underserved residents of Taguig through an advanced Digital Health care platform,” the post of the Taguig City government said.

“The second initiative, in collaboration with the Singhealth Duke-NUS Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI), focuses on improving key health indicators, infrastructure planning, and capacity building in Taguig’s maternal and child health facilities,” it added.

The Singaporean president, in a ceremony in Taguig City on Friday, highlighted the importance of collaboration in ensuring the provision of maternal and child healthcare in the developmental years of the child.

“I’m so happy that we are doing this together… The good comes in the doing…It requires committed partnerships, in your case, the Mayor and the team in Taguig City, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, who has the experts, Temasek Foundation, who is helping to make this possible and everyone else who’s involved,” said President Shanmugaratnam.

 Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano said that the agreements are “powerful symbols of our shared dedication to advancing maternal and child health in the Philippines.”

During Shanmugaratman’s state visit in the country, he and President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. signed a memorandum of understanding on the recruitment of Filipino healthcare workers to Singapore, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

The PCO also said that the visit marks a “notable chapter” in the 55-year history of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries. There are around 200,000 Filipinos in Singapore.