Service Disruption Hits Singapore's Public Healthcare Sector: No Cyber Incident Detected

SINGAPORE – A service disruption affecting Singapore's public healthcare sector lasted for approximately nine and a half hours on October 13, 2026, with services progressively restored by 4:37 PM, according to the national health technology agency, Synapxe. The disruption impacted all three public healthcare clusters: NHG Health, National University Health System (NUHS), and SingHealth.

The incident began around 7:10 AM due to a technical issue related to network connectivity, which led to disruptions in various services, including appointment bookings, visitor registrations, and billing inquiries. During this period, patients and visitors experienced longer waiting times at healthcare institutions, as reported by Synapxe.

“We activated our downtime procedures immediately, ensuring that clinical services such as emergency care, inpatient care, and surgeries continued without major interruptions.”NHG Health spokesperson

Despite the initial chaos, many patients later reported limited impact on their healthcare services. A visit to several institutions between 2 PM and 5:30 PM revealed that most patients faced few or no issues, with many able to attend appointments and collect medications without significant delays. By the afternoon, signs of the earlier disruption had largely disappeared, with no queues observed at major clinics.

Synapxe confirmed that there was no indication of a cyber incident related to the disruption, and investigations are ongoing. The agency expressed gratitude for the patience shown by patients and healthcare staff during the incident. An NHG Health spokesperson noted that while some patient services were affected, critical clinical services, including emergency care, continued with minimal disruption.

“We activated our downtime procedures immediately, ensuring that clinical services such as emergency care, inpatient care, and surgeries continued without major interruptions,” the spokesperson stated. Additionally, medication delivery services remained available through pharmacies.

“There was no indication of a cyber incident related to the disruption.”Synapxe

In response to the disruption, healthcare institutions deployed additional staff and volunteers to assist with on-site registration and payment processes, helping to alleviate the impact on patients. Reports indicated that some patients had to re-register manually at clinics due to system failures, causing frustration among those who had initially used self-service kiosks.

This incident follows a previous disruption on November 1, 2023, when a cyberattack caused a seven-hour outage affecting the websites of several public hospitals and polyclinics. Questions have since been raised in Parliament regarding the causes and preventive measures for such disruptions, highlighting the ongoing scrutiny of Singapore's healthcare digital infrastructure.