Our Achievements

Over the years, Singapore has achieved several notable firsts in the world in medical care. For example, Singapore became the first in Asia to carry out a combined kidney and bone-marrow transplant and succeed in growing liver cells. With the formation of the National University Health System, the new Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and our growing pool of clinical researchers and academics, Singapore is set to continue creating leading edge medicine and research breakthroughs.

1. World Health Report - Health Systems: Improving Performance

Medical excellence is however not just about doing cutting edge research and procedures but also about doing the common things well.

This report examines and compares aspects of health systems around the world. It provides conceptual insights into the complex factors that explain how health systems perform.

We are currently the #1 healthcare system in Asia and #6 in the world.


2. 11 “First-in-Asia” Medical Procedures



3. First Osteo-odonto Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) surgery performed in SE Asia (2005)

A highly promising procedure which has the potential to restore excellent vision to the most severe cases of end-stage corneal disease, when all else has failed.

4. New Stem Cell Therapy for Heart Disease (2008)

After 6 years, researchers at Singapore’s National Heart Centre have discovered a potentially effective alternative by first a patient’s adult stem cells into those similar to heart muscle cells in the lab over 2-3 weeks, before injecting them to the damaged area sustained in a heart attack.

Click here to download the document.


5. Stem Cell Clinical Trial for replacing Knee Cartilage (2008)

In a breakthrough clinical trial, a team of doctors from National University Health System has successfully used stem cells to repair the damaged knees of patients.