Eastern General Hospital (EGH) names new CEO and Medical Board Chairman

From January 1 next year, Associate Professor Gan Wee-Hoe will take over as Pro-Tem Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Associate Professor Augustine Tee as the Pro-Tem Chairman of the Medical Board (CMB) at the Eastern General Hospital (EGH).

EGH is the newest public hospital under SingHealth, one of Singapore’s healthcare clusters.

The hospital has been designed as a purpose-built “phygital” hospital.

EGH will integrate both physical and digital solutions to deliver personalised care, according to the official press release.

While it is expected to be up and running between 2029 to 2030, EGH will be Singapore’s first general hospital designed and equipped to deliver virtual clinical services from 2026 onwards.

As EGH's CEO, Prof Gan will concurrently run as the CEO of SingHealth Community Hospitals.

As for Prof Tee, he will relinquish his current role as the Chairman of Division of Medicine at Changi General Hospital (CGH) to take over as EGH's CMB.

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Roles to focus on bridging clinical and community care

As the CEO, Prof Gan will lead EGH’s strategy and operations with the hospital’s vision to excel in both clinical and community care.

He will also oversee capacity building efforts to deliver EGH’s population health mandate to the communities of care under its coverage, which is aligned with Singapore’s national population health strategy, Healthier SG.

As CMB, Prof Tee will oversee the development of professional services and clinical specialties at EGH, which are focused on fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation to ensure high standards of patient outcomes and sustainable practices.

Prof Tee was involved as the Hospital Clinical Services Lead since the start of the planning for EGH, where he led in designing and building the foundation of clinical care and service models for the EGH Campus.

SingHealth’s management leaders, including Deputy Group CEO (Regional Health System) Professor Lee Chien Earn, will continue to work with Prof Tee to shape and drive the directions of the cluster’s newest hospital.

Prof Lee currently serves as the Chairman of the EGH Campus Hospital Planning Committee.

From physicians to leaders

Both Prof Gan and Prof Tee are physicians by training, and have had extensive leadership experience in the public healthcare space.

In Prof Gan’s previous stint, he oversaw the introduction of new capabilities in SingHealth Community Hospitals.

Centred on the integration of health and social care, these capabilities include developing future community hospitals’ models of care and spearheading the Social Prescribing 2.0 initiative.

As part of SingHealth’s social prescribing approach, Prof Gan previously represented SingHealth Community Hospitals to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to develop a living asset map of community services and activities, in support of Healthier SG.

Previously with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH), he played a key role in the migration of electronic medical records (EMR) system, as well as capacity building efforts among clinicians to harness the potential of EMR data for clinical decision-making.

During Prof Tee’s experience at CGH, his achievements include having led his teams during the Covid-19 pandemic as the Chief of CGH’s Department of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine.

He was recently awarded the President’s Science and Technology Medal for his work as a part of a team on innovative healthcare solutions.

Alongside A*STAR researchers, they developed an optical wearable technology that enhances clinical decision-making by monitoring respiratory and lung function in real-time.

Prof Tee also chaired the National Medical Safety Committee from 2017 to 2022, which is dedicated to improving patient safety. During his chairmanship, he received the Minister for Health team award in 2019.

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Singapore’s newest general hospital

EGH will be co-located with Eastern Community Hospital (ECH) on the EGH Campus.

“These key leadership appointments are part of SingHealth’s efforts to formalise the plans for EGH as the hospital progresses in its development towards operational readiness and the timely completion of its facility,” SingHealth said in a statement.

The Campus will be set up at Bedok North, Singapore, and will have 1,400 acute and community hospital beds.

EGH will offer both inpatient and outpatient care across medical, surgical and ambulatory care.

“Upon its completion, EGH will significantly augment the capacity of Singapore’s healthcare system to meet its increasing healthcare needs as our population ages.

“The opportunity to build a new general hospital that is designed and purpose-built to integrate physical healthcare services with digital solutions is a unique and exciting one,” said SingHealth’s Group CEO, Professor Ng Wai Hoe, in his congratulatory remarks to both Prof Gan and Prof Tee.

Editor's note: The writer incorrectly pointed out that Prof Gan would be relinquishing his role as CEO of SingHealth Community Hospitals to take over as EGH's CEO, and this has been corrected for accuracy.