Singapore’s healthcare needs are changing fast
Singapore’s healthcare system is adapting to long-term demographic realities. By 2030, around one in four citizens is expected to be aged 65 and above, increasing demand for ongoing care and long-term medication management across hospitals, polyclinics and primary care settings. In parallel, national efforts such as Healthier SG are strengthening preventive care and supporting healthier lifestyles, with a growing emphasis on care delivered closer to the community.
Within this environment, medication handling remains a critical and highly regulated function. Medications must be prepared accurately and safely, with full compliance to labelling, traceability and expiry requirements. At the same time, operational steps such as sorting bulk medication, repacking into single-use formats, labelling, barcoding and quality checks are labour-intensive, placing pressure on space, manpower and time within healthcare institutions.
Through ongoing engagement with healthcare partners, it became clear that these operational demands were increasingly difficult to manage within healthcare institutions, particularly as patient volumes continued to rise and workforce pressures persisted.
Supporting medication workflows beyond hospital settings
As healthcare providers looked for ways to manage these operational demands while maintaining the required quality, safety and regulatory standards, there was a need for additional capacity to support medication preparation. 
To address this need, Kuehne+Nagel expanded its existing healthcare logistics operations in Singapore to support medication repackaging and labelling activities within a controlled environment outside healthcare institutions. The solution builds on healthcare logistics operations that have supported medication workflows in Singapore for many years, as well as established healthcare and pharmaceutical operations supported by GMP-compliant facilities, specialised infrastructure and trained personnel, including qualified pharmacists and dedicated quality teams.
All repackaging and labelling activities are carried out in licensed, clean and controlled premises under pharmacist supervision. Processes are governed by robust quality systems that support accurate labelling, expiry management and full traceability, helping to maintain patient safety and regulatory compliance.
Reducing operational burden to protect clinical time
Today, these healthcare logistics operations are conducted at scale, with more than 20 dedicated production stations supporting medication packaging activities across both ambient (15°C to 25°C) and cold chain (2°C to 8°C) conditions. This dedicated capacity helps reduce the operational burden on healthcare facilities, where such activities are typically carried out by small pharmacy teams alongside their clinical responsibilities.
Preparing medications in unit dose repackaging formats can support a range of care delivery models. While the current focus is on supporting hospital operations, the approach may also offer opportunities to support community-based and home-centred care models in the future, where appropriate and subject to relevant requirements and quality controls.
For healthcare providers, the impact is practical. Medication packaging outside of their healthcare institutions reduce pressure on limited onsite space, provides access to compliant infrastructure with built-in resilience, and allows capacity to be adjusted in line with changing demand without significant additional investment. Most importantly, it helps protect the time of pharmacists, nurses and clinicians, allowing them to focus on patient care and clinical responsibilities.
A support role within a changing healthcare landscape
As Singapore continues to strengthen preventive care and support healthier ageing, reducing operational burden plays an important role in sustaining the healthcare system. By combining healthcare logistics expertise, GMP-compliant operations and dedicated quality oversight, Kuehne+Nagel supports safe and reliable medication workflows that help healthcare institutions manage growing demand while allowing pharmacists, nurses and clinicians to focus on patient care.