Singapore’s national health tech agency Synapxe hosted the AI Accelerate conference at the Punggol Digital District, Singapore’s first smart and sustainable district, yesterday. Over 380 leaders from technology, healthcare, academia, government and AI innovation attended the one-day event.
The conference connected public healthcare and tech communities to boost AI talent and capabilities while speeding up digital transformation in public healthcare. Participants introduced new innovations, expanded AI applications on national healthcare platforms, and formed partnerships. Synapxe aims to create an AI-driven public healthcare ecosystem in Singapore.
Ong Ye Kung, Singapore’s Minister for Health, said that the country’s approach is to improve healthcare using AI, not implement AI in healthcare for AI’s sake. “There must therefore be a sharp focus on practical use cases in transforming healthcare, that will deliver measurable outcomes either in enhancing accuracy and speed of diagnosis, improve treatment or prevention, and increase productivity for healthcare professionals.”
Ong reassured healthcare professionals that the government does not envisage AI replacing doctors and healthcare workers, but sees it augmenting their capabilities. “Our approach is to ensure that care delivery is AI-enabled or AI-enhanced, but not AI-decided. The human must continue to be in the loop, making the final judgment on the most appropriate care pathway and medical intervention. In the process, we will also ensure continued patient safety, by implementing appropriate governance measures and safeguards.”
Ngiam Siew Ying, CEO, Synapxe, expects that AI will transform healthcare through innovation. The agency is developing solutions that deliver predictive and personalised care while improving health outcomes for everyone. She said that Synapxe builds a bridge to an AI-ready healthcare system by empowering individuals, creating a strong ecosystem, establishing infrastructure, and driving responsible innovation to improve health outcomes for everyone
AI in TCM
Synapxe is working with healthcare and technology partners to develop AI tools that enhance predictive and preventive care. One innovation, Synseh, combines AI with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) tongue analysis to provide wellness recommendations tailored to each person’s body constitution. This proof-of-concept tool empowers users to manage their health early by offering personalised insights.
Improving patient care with AI
Synapxe launched HealthHub AI to help residents access health information. The feature, available in multiple languages, uses text and voice interactions to give personalised health advice. A beta version released in April 2025 gathered over 1,600 sessions with an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5.
Synapxe also deployed AI models on AimSG, Singapore’s first AI medical imaging platform. A chest X-ray AI model screens for tuberculosis at the National Tuberculosis Screening Centre, helping doctors diagnose TB faster and more accurately. Synapxe added a bone trauma AI model at Woodlands Health’s emergency department to detect fractures quickly, improving treatment and reducing complications.
Building AI skills
Synapxe encourages public healthcare professionals to adopt AI through projects like the GenAIus Challenge. This initiative connects over 160 public healthcare professionals with technology partners to develop GenAI solutions. Teams developed eight minimum viable products (MVPs) showcased at the conference, including a next-of-kin update tool that informs families about patient progress while reducing stress for overworked hospital staff.
Collaborations for healthcare AI
Synapxe signed partnerships to drive AI advancements. It worked with OpenAI to explore multi-agent frameworks for improving healthcare tasks like appointment bookings. With AIDX TECH, Synapxe focuses on AI safety and compliance, including testing AI models to align with global standards.
Synapxe partnered with Databricks to enhance HEALIX, a cloud-based analytics platform, by fostering AI use, training and certification. Google Cloud joined forces with Synapxe to strengthen HEALIX and Tandem, Synapxe’s innovative and secure GenAI platform, by providing AI tools and training for over 300 healthcare professionals.
Innovative projects
Synapxe continues developing AI projects like Synseh and HealthHub AI. AimSG supports AI-enabled tuberculosis and bone fracture screening, improving diagnosis accuracy. Synapxe also created ASPIRE, an AI-powered tool to screen for frailty and sarcopenia, and HEALIX, which consolidates healthcare data for AI and machine learning analysis.
Ong reiterates: “How we fully use and leverage AI, but not become subservient or mindlessly defer to it, is a balance we must strike. This balance is most apparent in healthcare, a realm where knowhow is driven by science and evidence, but every act is delivered with human kindness and empathy.”
