Written Answer · 2026-08-04 · Parliament 15
Prevalence of Use of AI-assisted Clinical Notetaking Tools at Public Healthcare Institutions and Safeguards for Such Use
Workers' Party MP Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health in a written question which public healthcare institutions have deployed AI-assisted clinical note-taking tools, whether such tools are classified as medical devices under the Health Products Act, and if not, what mandatory safeguards exist to ensure their accuracy and safety. Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung replied that because AI-assisted clinical note-taking does not diagnose, manage or treat medical conditions, these tools are not medical devices regulated under the Health Products Act. Healthcare professionals are required to go through the AI-generated notes before adding them to their clinical records, so the notes ultimately remain the professional's own rather than the AI tool's — the principle of keeping the human in the loop when implementing AI tools. The reply did not name the institutions that have deployed such tools.
Why it matters
MOH has ruled that AI clinical note-taking tools fall outside the Health Products Act medical-device regime, leaving clinician review before entry into records as the sole safeguard and naming no deploying institutions.
Key Points
- • AI-assisted clinical note-taking does not diagnose, manage or treat medical conditions, so such tools are not medical devices regulated under the Health Products Act
- • Healthcare professionals must go through AI-generated notes before adding them to clinical records; the notes ultimately remain the professional's, not the AI tool's
- • MOH frames this as the principle of keeping the human in the loop when implementing AI tools
- • The reply did not name which public healthcare institutions have deployed such tools
The Government draws the regulatory boundary by function rather than technology: because AI clinical note-taking tools do not diagnose, manage or treat, they are kept outside the Health Products Act medical-device regime, with no additional mandatory certification. Responsibility for safety rests with the user — healthcare professionals must review AI-generated notes before entering them into records, and legal and professional accountability for the notes stays with the clinician, which MOH calls the "human in the loop" principle.
Workers' Party MP Jamus Lim asked the Government to state which public healthcare institutions have deployed AI clinical note-taking tools, whether they are classified as medical devices under the Health Products Act, and, if not regulated under that Act, what "mandatory" safeguards ensure accuracy and safety. His concern was that errors in AI-generated records could affect patient safety and that the current framework may have a regulatory gap; the reply gave no list of institutions and cited no mandatory measure beyond clinician review.
MOH has drawn a clear classification line: AI tools that do not diagnose, manage or treat — such as clinical note-taking — are not medical devices, and their oversight rests on professional accountability and the human in the loop rather than product certification. This clears the compliance path for rapid rollout of administrative healthcare AI and signals that Singapore's healthcare AI regulation will be tiered by whether a tool influences clinical decisions, rather than applying one rule to all AI.
"Ultimately, the notes are still from the healthcare professional, not the AI tool. This is the principle of keeping the human in the loop when we implement AI tools."
Participants (2)
Original Text (English)
SPRS Hansard · Fetched: 2026-09-04
88 Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) which public healthcare institutions have deployed AI-assisted clinical note-taking tools; (b) whether such tools are classified as medical devices under the Health Products Act; and (c) if not, what mandatory safeguards exist to ensure the accuracy and safety of such tools.
Mr Ong Ye Kung : As artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted clinical note-taking does not diagnose, manage or treat medical conditions, they are not medical devices regulated under the Health Products Act.
Healthcare professionals are required to go through the AI-generated notes before adding them to their clinical records. Ultimately, the notes are still from the healthcare professional, not the AI tool. This is the principle of keeping the human in the loop when we implement AI tools.