Stork options: Singapore’s IVF market sees patient demand amid birth dearth - The Business Times

[SINGAPORE] More would-be parents are trying for babies with the help of modern medicine – and this is leaving the field wide open for operators in the fertility health segment. 

In a 2024 report, consulting firm Kearney identified Singapore as “a prime example of a mature in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) market”, with widespread access and partial public funding contributing to a high penetration rate of more than seven cycles per 1,000 women.

Organic demand aside, a revamp of the government’s marriage and parenthood measures could also boost the fertility market and provide uplift to private healthcare players.

Fertility and maternal health are already issues under review by Singapore’s national Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah announced in October. That is as the country’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell to a historic low of 0.87 in 2025, from 0.97 in 2024.

The workgroup, which she chairs, is expected to release a fresh slate of policy recommendations in early 2027. When that happens, watchers are not ruling out enhancements to government subsidies that could widen patients’ assisted reproductive technology (ART) options.

Though Singapore-specific data is hard to come by, the value of the Asia-Pacific ART market is estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

One cycle of IVF at a public clinic could set would-be parents back by S$15,000 to S$18,000, while private facilities charge around S$20,000 to S$25,000. The Ministry of Health (MOH) disclosed in 2024 that IVF cycle costs at public hospitals rose by about 2 per cent each year in the decade prior.

The number of ART treatment cycles carried out in Singapore nearly doubled in the last decade or so – from 5,800 in 2013 to 10,500 in 2022, according to figures previously reported by MOH.

Singapore’s more than a dozen licensed assisted reproduction centres comprise three public hospitals, as well as a number of private healthcare providers – which are seeing robust demand for fertility services, most notably IVF and related procedures.

At mainboard-listed Thomson Medical, more than 6,000 patients sought procedures such as IVF, intrauterine insemination (IUI), and egg and sperm freezing in the year to end-June – and “we have been able to maintain a relatively stable demand” for fertility services year on year, acting CEO Cassandra Loh tells The Business Times.

Meanwhile, Singapore Medical Group (SMG), a subsidiary of CHA Healthcare, ascribes about half of its overall business volume to women’s health, fertility and related services.

Chris Chung, CEO of CHA Asia Pacific, and Beng Teck Liang, CEO of SMG, jointly say: “Assisted fertility is becoming a key pillar of our women’s and reproductive health business.”

A spokesperson for IHH Healthcare, whose portfolio includes Mount Elizabeth Fertility Centre, added: “We remain positive about the outlook for the assisted fertility market in Singapore.”

He cites delayed parenthood as one factor that is expected to continue driving demand for fertility services, alongside greater consumer awareness and medical advancements.

When the idea was mooted in Parliament by then MP Louis Ng in 2020, MOH replied that public centres had enough capacity, though it did not rule out studying the proposal to extend co-funding to the private sector “while ensuring charges remain reasonable”.

But Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung told Parliament in February 2026 that various fertility health policies were being reviewed, including financial support for assisted conception procedures – a point that he reiterated at a subsequent parliamentary sitting in October.

“One of the key structural business challenges for private fertility providers in Singapore is competing for patients without access to the same financing support available in the public sector,” says Choy Shook Yee, chief commercial officer of Temasek-backed Foundation Healthcare, which listed on the Singapore Exchange’s mainboard in mid-2026. 

That lack of co-funding “creates a different cost proposition for private providers and can influence patient choice, particularly given the costs involved in fertility treatment”, she adds.

Upcoming policy changes could include increases in government co-funding for ART, higher MediSave claim limits and more funded ART cycles, suggests Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Tan Poh Lin, who researches women’s fertility in Asia. Such initiatives could “help to offset the financial expenses” faced by would-be parents, she notes.

The Singapore government offers co-funding of up to 75 per cent for assisted conception procedures – such as IVF, IUI, and the testing of embryos for genetic diseases before they are implanted in the womb.

In IVF, embryos are created by fertilising eggs with sperm in a laboratory. IUI involves inserting pre-selected sperm directly into the uterus during ovulation.

The co-funding is available only for services at public hospitals. Between 2023 and 2025, MOH provided more than S$20 million a year in co-funding, mainly for IVF, a spokesperson for the ministry tells BT. 

Patients can also use MediSave to pay for treatment at both public and private hospitals, up to a lifetime cap of S$15,000. MediSave claims for assisted conception in this three-year period also totalled more than S$20 million annually, according to the MOH spokesperson.

Most IVF cycles are performed in public assisted reproduction centres, says the spokesperson, and the market share has remained stable over the three years. “However, (the) private-sector’s share of MediSave (amounts) claimed is increasing, arising from higher withdrawals per claim, which could be due to the charges by private providers.”

Within the last five years, MOH has embarked on notable efforts to increase the collective ART capacity at the three public hospitals by about 20 per cent.

Yet, Chung and Dr Beng say that public-sector capacity may still be strained because “the current funding structure creates a strong financial incentive to choose public hospitals”. 

Private ART providers tell BT that extending subsidies to the private sector could broaden access for patients, which is significant because time is of the essence for conception.

In Australia, where CHA Asia Pacific and SMG are invested in IVF provider City Fertility, Chung and Dr Beng note the government offers partial rebates for IVF costs at some private centres.

“This (government) support has helped normalise fertility treatment as part of mainstream healthcare, improving access for patients who need it,” they remark.

But, even if funding is extended to private providers, companies do not expect an instant bonanza. “From a patient perspective, any subsidy should ideally translate into reduced out-of-pocket costs while maintaining transparency in billing,” the IHH spokesperson notes.

Any changes to funding “could also encourage providers to continually review their care delivery models to ensure that treatments remain accessible, sustainable and competitively priced”, he says, adding that IHH would also review its fee structure to take into account factors such as clinical requirements, quality standards and “prevailing market conditions”.

Thomson Medical’s Loh says the most immediate impact of expanded co-funding would be a smaller price gap between public and private options.

She tells BT: “There may be some adjustments to the fee structure in the private market, but as pricing has been quite stable across the board, we do not anticipate major shifts in the overall market.”

But co-funding may not result directly in higher procedure volumes, she cautions, since any boost to private-sector demand from potential funding enhancements would ultimately depend on factors such as eligibility criteria, funding limits and approved procedures.

“More fundamentally, we think any policy should balance patient access and clinical outcomes, alongside the prudent use of public funds,” she adds.

Putting aside the potential for broader access to government funds, procedure prices in the private market are also contingent on business factors such as operating costs.

The IHH spokesperson notes that the assisted fertility industry “requires significant investment in clinical expertise, technology, laboratory capabilities and quality assurance”.

And, even as demand for ART services is booming, the Singapore market has only “a limited pool of highly specialised fertility specialists”, Foundation Healthcare’s Choy notes.

As a result, competition is based “not only on price, but also on clinical outcomes, patient experience, accessibility and continuity of care”, she says.

Another hurdle: Singapore medical providers risk losing revenue to cheaper peers overseas.

After all, the cost of IVF could be 74 per cent lower in Malaysia than in Singapore, Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute senior fellow Lee Poh Onn noted in an article in December 2025.

Said Dr Lee then: “The cost attractiveness of medical procedures in Malaysia (and Johor) is perhaps the most significant factor attracting medical tourists from neighbouring countries.”

While MOH does not track Singaporeans who opt for IVF abroad, obstetrician and gynaecologist Paul Tseng, the medical director of Foundation Healthcare subsidiary CareIVF, notes that Singapore sits in “an inherently competitive regional healthcare market”.

“We are mindful that some patients may opt to consider neighbouring countries where treatment can be offered at lower costs,” says Dr Tseng.

Some industry players hold up their regional partnerships as a selling point.

For instance, Thomson Medical already offers fertility services in both Singapore and Malaysia, with TMC Fertility branches in Johor Bahru, Kota Damansara and elsewhere.

Loh of Thomson Medical says: “For patients who are considering cross-border options, that gives us an opportunity to provide greater continuity across markets where appropriate, while working within the respective clinical and regulatory frameworks.”

For SMG, parent company CHA’s IVF portfolio in Australia, Japan and South Korea acts as another selling point that “differentiates our offering”, say Chung and Dr Beng.

“Patients can access specialist expertise, second opinions and cross-border treatment options while maintaining continuity of care at home within an integrated healthcare network,” they tell BT.

But, acknowledging that they cannot entirely compete on cost, Singapore healthcare operators instead emphasise the quality of the service that they are able to offer here.

Says Choy: “At CareIVF, our approach is to keep our services competitively priced while leveraging (Foundation Healthcare’s) broader specialist network, allowing patients to access consultations and follow-up care conveniently across Singapore.”

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for IHH, which is dual-listed in Singapore and Malaysia, notes that the company’s Gleneagles Hospital Johor does see Singapore-based patients – but typically for simpler procedures, such as health screenings, endoscopy or cataract surgery.

Though Singaporeans could undergo fertility treatments across the Causeway, “we don’t encourage it”, the spokesperson added.

Instead, he stressed the benefits of “a seamless treatment journey from consultation through to follow-up” and pointed to potential difficulties in the cross-border management of confidential or protected patient data.

Since 2023, an annual average of about 4,000 patients have benefited from government co-funding for assisted conception, while about 5,000 patients have made MediSave withdrawals for such procedures each year, the MOH spokesperson tells BT.

He adds that the ministry “will continue to engage Singaporeans on fertility health, and work closely with stakeholders and the community as we develop recommendations” on policy.

Singapore Management University sociologist Paulin Tay Straughan, who specialises in issues of family, work and ageing, thinks enhancements to government support for ART are both inevitable and “a practical response” to delayed marriage and childbearing.

“More and more (couples) need help, and help is expensive. So the inevitability comes now because we have no choice – we have to support those who need help,” she notes.

Still, Prof Straughan is worried that the government footing the bill for more reproductive health-related expenses “may send the wrong message that it is alright to wait” to have children, given that success rates for assisted fertility procedures decline with age.

Despite the lower success rate, Dr Tan of the Institute of Policy Studies thinks there will still be interest, because rising maternal ages will increase the size of this subgroup. She says older mothers are often also highly motivated to have another child.

Still, she warns: “Singapore’s low TFR ultimately arises from social root causes, and initiatives through public health or technological solutions can only do so much.”

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