A delegation of 20 high-level health professionals and architects from Singapore are visiting UNMC this week to learn more about the Biocontainment Unit and best practices as they prepare to build a new unit in their country.
The trip was initiated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also sent them to visit Emory University in Atlanta. The delegation was led by Yee-Sin Leo, director of the medical service for the Ministry of Health, professor and director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, and clinical director of the Communicable Disease Center, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
A new National Center for Infectious Diseases, a 338-bed hospital, is under construction. It will enable Singapore to increase isolation and outbreak capabilities, thereby allowing the nation to be in a better position to handle outbreaks. Singapore was the Chinese national treatment center during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.