In Singapore, a quiet revolution is unfolding in the healthcare sector as the city-state grapples with an ever-growing demand for hospital beds. The Mobile Inpatient Care @ Home (MIC@Home) programme, a pioneering initiative, is allowing patients to receive acute medical care in the comfort of their own homes through virtual wards. This innovative approach, blending teleconsultations with home visits, offers a lifeline to hospitals strained by capacity issues and a more personalized recovery experience for patients. As public hospitals expand this service, with plans to significantly increase virtual bed numbers by 2030, the programme could redefine how acute care is delivered in one of Asia’s most advanced healthcare systems.
A Response to Hospital Overcrowding
Singapore’s healthcare system, often lauded for its efficiency, faces a pressing challenge: a growing population and an aging demographic are increasing the demand for hospital beds. With over 12,000 public hospital beds currently available, the Ministry of Health (MOH) projects a need for an additional 2,800 beds by 2030. However, building new facilities takes time, and in the interim, the MIC@Home programme offers an alternative by transforming patients’ homes into virtual wards. Launched as a mainstream service in April 2024 after successful pilot programs, MIC@Home enables doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals to treat patients remotely for conditions like dengue, cellulitis, gastroenteritis, and urinary tract infections. 
According to the MOH, the programme targets patients who require acute care but can be safely managed outside a hospital setting. These patients are assessed by clinical teams to ensure their conditions—often treated with intravenous medications or fluids—can be monitored remotely via mobile phones or video-conferencing platforms. A key requirement is that patients must be able to care for themselves or have a caregiver at home, ensuring safety and compliance with treatment protocols.
Scaling Up Virtual Capacity
The scale of the programme is already impressive, with around 200 MIC@Home beds available across public acute hospitals as of March 2025, nearly double the 104 beds in January 2024. Individual hospitals are ramping up capacity in response to demand. Woodlands Health, for instance, started with 15 virtual beds in May 2024 and increased to 20 by January 2025, with plans for 30 within a year. Singapore General Hospital (SGH), a pioneer in the programme with a two-year sandbox before its official rollout, currently operates 30 virtual beds and aims to expand to between 40 and 60 within the next year.
Other institutions are following suit. SingHealth, which oversees four hospitals including SGH, Changi General Hospital, Sengkang General Hospital, and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, currently manages 90 virtual ward beds and is prepared to scale up further. Professor Lee Chien Earn, SingHealth’s deputy group CEO for regional health systems, expressed optimism about the programme’s future, stating: “We hope that by 2030, MIC@Home will be a preferred care option that suitable patients – not just from our hospitals and clinics, but also those in the community – will readily opt for.”
The National University Health System (NUHS) is also expanding, with 75 virtual beds currently and targets of 100 by the end of 2025 and 400 by 2030. NUHS has even extended its programme to acutely ill patients in two nursing homes, showcasing the versatility of virtual wards beyond traditional hospital settings. Meanwhile, the upcoming Eastern General Hospital in Bedok plans to offer virtual wards as early as 2026, well before its physical facility opens in 2029.
Patient Experiences and Benefits
For patients, the benefits of MIC@Home are tangible. Sheralyn Tay, a 43-year-old editorial consultant and kidney transplant patient, transitioned to a virtual ward at SGH after four days of inpatient care for an infection in March 2025. Treated with intravenous antibiotics, she appreciated recovering amidst familiar surroundings. “A nurse would come twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, to give me the IV drip and take my blood pressure” she recounted. “You feel reassured that you’re still taken care of. There was an office-hours number to call and an after-hours number to call.”
Having endured multiple hospital stays, Tay noted the disruptions of early-morning checks and tests in traditional wards. In contrast, the virtual ward allowed her to upload vital signs like oxygen saturation levels to an online platform at her convenience. She also highlighted the broader impact, recalling past experiences of waiting for a hospital bed during capacity crunches. “I’ve waited for a bed before and know how it feels to feel unwell and be stuck in a gurney” she said. For her, completing treatment at home once she felt better was a more appropriate level of care.
Similarly, Mohammad Soffian Mohd Afdzanawar, a 35-year-old senior desktop engineer, opted for a virtual ward at Woodlands Health while recovering from cellulitis. Able to care for himself, he valued the comfort of home, despite the minor inconvenience of setting alarms to submit vital readings at specific times. These personal stories underscore a key advantage: patients in virtual wards often eat better, sleep better, and move more freely, while avoiding hospital-acquired infections and functional decline post-hospitalization, as noted by Dr Stephanie Ko, a consultant at NUHS and lead for NUHS@Home.
Challenges and Innovations
Despite its promise, the MIC@Home programme faces hurdles, particularly in shifting mindsets about acute care delivery. Dr Ko acknowledged this challenge, stating: “One of the main challenges we face when introducing NUHS@Home to patients, caregivers, and healthcare staff is changing their mindset about how acute inpatient care can be delivered.” To address this, NUHS is developing artificial intelligence tools to identify suitable patients and is actively educating stakeholders about the benefits of virtual wards.
Patient suitability also depends on caregiving arrangements and home conditions, as not all environments are conducive to setting up a virtual bed. Additionally, while most patients spend just three to four days in virtual wards, ensuring consistent monitoring and rapid response to emergencies remains critical. Hospitals are tackling these issues by providing subsidies, MediShield Life, MediSave, and Integrated Shield Plan coverage to make the service accessible. Since April 2024, over 2,500 patients have utilized MIC@Home, reflecting growing acceptance.
Looking ahead, hospitals are exploring ways to broaden the programme’s scope. NUHS has already included patients recovering from hematopoietic stem cell transplants and total knee replacements, while SingHealth is considering post-surgical care and rehabilitation. Even the Institute of Mental Health, the only public acute hospital currently without MIC@Home, is planning a pilot within the next one to two years to develop a model for psychiatric patients, a complex but potentially transformative application of virtual care.
A Model for the Future?
The MIC@Home programme is more than a stopgap for hospital overcrowding; it represents a fundamental shift in how healthcare can be delivered. By leveraging technology—teleconsultations, remote monitoring, and AI-driven patient selection—Singapore is positioning itself at the forefront of healthcare innovation. The programme not only eases the burden on physical infrastructure but also aligns with broader trends toward patient-centered care, where recovery is tailored to individual needs and environments.
Yet, questions linger about scalability and equity. As virtual wards expand, will access remain equitable across socioeconomic groups, particularly for those without reliable internet or suitable home conditions? How will hospitals balance the need for physical beds with the push toward virtual care, especially for critical cases unsuitable for home treatment? And as psychiatric and post-surgical applications are explored, what new challenges will emerge in ensuring patient safety and care quality?
For now, MIC@Home stands as a bold experiment with early signs of success. Dr Michelle Tan, head of family medicine continuing care at SGH, noted that the service has already helped reduce hospital congestion. As Singapore’s healthcare system evolves, the virtual ward model may inspire other densely populated, resource-constrained cities across Asia and beyond to rethink traditional inpatient care. With plans to integrate community patients by 2030, the programme could become a cornerstone of a more flexible, resilient healthcare future—one where the hospital comes to the patient, rather than the other way around.
