Synapxe attributes 'internet access disruption' to outage of Singapore public hospital and polyclinic websites
On Wednesday (Nov 1), a technical disruption impacted several Singaporean public hospitals and polyclinics, rendering their websites inaccessible. \n \nSynapxe, the national health tech agency, identified the problem as an "internet access disruption" affecting all public healthcare clusters.
SINGAPORE: On Wednesday (Nov 1), a substantial technical disruption affected numerous public hospitals and polyclinics in Singapore, causing their websites to become inaccessible.
Synapxe, the national health tech agency, attributed the issue to an "internet access disruption" impacting all public healthcare clusters.
In a Facebook post at 12:43 p.m. on Wednesday, Synapxe clarified that services reliant on internet applications, including websites, emails, and the NUHS contact centre, were inaccessible.
However, it ensured that clinical services within the public healthcare network, such as access to patient records, remained both accessible and unaffected.
"We are currently working to resolve the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused," stated Synapxe, acknowledging its own website's temporary inaccessibility.
The national agency supports 46 public healthcare institutions, including hospitals, polyclinics, and 1,400 community partners like nursing homes and general practitioners.
Singapore's healthcare system operates through three clusters: SingHealth (east), National Healthcare Group (central), and NUHS (west).
The websites of Singapore General Hospital, National University Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital were among those affected.
SGH also updated on their official Facebook page that the hospital are facing a temporary internet access disruption with our websites, and recommend patients For appointments and billing, please use the Health Buddy app.
"We seek your understanding and patience during this time."
Notably, the outage extended beyond individual hospital websites, impacting the online portals of Singapore’s three key public healthcare clusters: SingHealth, the National Healthcare Group, and National University Health System.
Users attempting to access these sites were met with error messages indicating that the respective URLs could not be retrieved.
In a related development, the website of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) was similarly affected, suggesting a widespread technical issue within the Singaporean healthcare digital infrastructure.
While the technical glitch appeared to be confined to the public healthcare sector, the websites of private hospitals, notably Mount Elizabeth Novena and Raffles Medical Group, remained unaffected, maintaining their online presence and services.
Amidst the disruptions, the Ministry of Health and HealthHub websites continued to operate unaffected.
