Websites of Singapore public hospitals, polyclinics down due to 'internet access disruption'

SINGAPORE: The websites of all public hospitals and polyclinics in Singapore were down on Wednesday (Nov 1), with users reporting errors when trying to access them in the morning.

Attempts to access the websites produced error messages saying their URLs could not be retrieved.

The issue is due to an "internet access disruption" affecting all public healthcare clusters, said Synapxe, the national health tech agency.

"Services requiring internet applications like websites, emails and the NUHS (National University Health System) contact centre are inaccessible," said the agency at about 1.45pm.

It added that clinical services within the public healthcare network, such as access to patient records, remain accessible and unaffected.

"We are currently working to resolve the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused," said Synapxe, whose website was also inaccessible.

The agency supports the operations of 46 public healthcare institutions, including acute hospitals and polyclinics, as well as around 1,400 community partners such as nursing homes and general practitioners.

Singapore's public healthcare system is grouped into three clusters - SingHealth which runs hospitals and polyclinics in the east, the National Healthcare Group in the central region and NUHS in the west.

The websites of Singapore General Hospital, National University Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital were among those affected.

The website of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) was also inaccessible.

Websites of private hospitals, such as Mount Elizabeth Novena and Raffles Medical Group, appear to be unaffected.

The Ministry of Health and HealthHub websites were working.

CNA has contacted the hospitals, healthcare clusters, AIC and the Infocomm Media Development Authority for more information.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.