No. S 659
Central Provident Fund Act
(Chapter 36)
Central Provident Fund (Medisave Account Withdrawals) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations 2009
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 77(1)(j) of the Central Provident Fund Act, the Minister for Manpower, after consulting with the Central Provident Fund Board, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation and commencement
1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Central Provident Fund (Medisave Account Withdrawals) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations 2009 and shall come into operation on 1st January 2010.
Amendment of regulation 2
2.  Regulation 2(1) of the Central Provident Fund (Medisave Account Withdrawals) Regulations (Rg 17) (referred to in these Regulations as the principal Regulations) is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the definition of “approved medical treatment”, the following definition:
“ “approved palliative care provider” means any person —
(a)who provides palliative care; and
(b)who is approved by the Minister for Health or such other person as he may appoint for the purposes of these Regulations;”; and
(b)by inserting, immediately after the definition of “dependant”, the following definitions:
“ “home”, in relation to a person, means any premises (other than an approved medical institution) in which the person is residing;
“home palliative care” means any palliative care for a terminally ill patient provided at the home of the patient;”.
Amendment of regulation 3
3.  Regulation 3 of the principal Regulations is amended —
(a)by deleting paragraph (1) and substituting the following paragraph:
(1)  Subject to the Act and these Regulations, where a member or his dependant has received —
(a)any medical treatment, psychiatric treatment or approved treatment —
(i)in any approved medical institution from an approved medical practitioner; or
(ii)in any other centre, clinic, hospital or premises approved by the Minister for Health under paragraph (1A); or
(b)any medical treatment (other than any approved vaccination) at home from an approved palliative care provider,
the Board may, on an application by the member within the period of 12 months commencing immediately after the relevant date or within such further period as may be specified by the Board, authorise the whole or part of the amount standing to the member’s credit in his medisave account to be withdrawn and used for the payment of the medical treatment, psychiatric treatment or approved treatment received by the member or his dependant, subject to the direction of the Minister for Health under paragraph (1A)(b) and such other terms and conditions as the Board may impose.”;
(b)by deleting sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (3)(a) and substituting the following sub-paragraph:
(i)has received —
(A)any medical treatment, psychiatric treatment or approved treatment in any approved medical institution; or
(B)any medical treatment (other than any approved vaccination) at home from an approved palliative care provider;”;
(c)by inserting, immediately after the word “any” in paragraph (3)(c), the word “medical”; and
(d)by inserting, immediately after paragraph (6), the following paragraph:
(7)  For the purposes of this regulation and regulations 4, 9A, 13, 23, 24 and 25, unless the context otherwise requires, “medical treatment” includes home palliative care.”.
Amendment of regulation 4
4.  Regulation 4 of the principal Regulations is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after “9,” in paragraph (1), “9A,”; and
(b)by inserting, immediately after the word “any” in paragraph (4), the word “medical”.
New regulation 9A
5.  The principal Regulations are amended by inserting, immediately after regulation 9, the following regulation:
Out-patient medical treatment provided by approved palliative care provider
9A.—(1)  Subject to regulation 4, where a member or his dependant who is suffering from terminal illness has received, on or after 1st January 2010, any medical treatment (other than any approved vaccination) at home as an out-patient from an approved palliative care provider, the amount that may be withdrawn by the member for the payment of the medical treatment, including attendance fees —
(a)shall not exceed $1,500 per patient during the lifetime of the patient; and
(b)shall not exceed the total credit balance in the member’s medisave account.
(2)  Any withdrawal by a member under this regulation shall be subject to such terms and conditions as the Minister for Health may impose.”.
Amendment of regulation 13
6.  Regulation 13(1) of the principal Regulations is amended by deleting the words “regulations 14 and 14A” and substituting the words “regulations 9A, 14 and 14A”.
Amendment of regulation 24
7.  Regulation 24(1) of the principal Regulations is amended —
(a)by deleting the word “or” at the end of sub-paragraph (g); and
(b)by deleting the comma at the end of sub-paragraph (h) and substituting the word “; or”, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following sub-paragraph:
(i)any medical treatment (other than any approved vaccination) provided by an approved palliative care provider,”.
Amendment of regulation 25
8.  Regulation 25 of the principal Regulations is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “the approved medical institutions”, the words “or the approved palliative care provider, as the case may be,”.
[G.N. Nos. S 224/2007; S 527/2007; S 731/2007; S 149/2008; S 456/2008; S 682/2008; S 86/2009; S 239/2009; S 523/2009]
Made this 29th day of December 2009.
CHAN YENG KIT
Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Manpower,
Singapore.
[MMS 10/82 V22; AG/LEG/SL/36/2005/18 Vol. 3]
(To be presented to Parliament under section 78(2) of the Central Provident Fund Act).