SINGAPORE - Singapore General Hospital (SGH) has been ranked the third-best hospital in the world by Newsweek magazine, in part for its clinical research and "outstanding nursing".

It comes behind two American hospitals, the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.

The magazine said SGH, as a tertiary referral hospital with ancillary on-campus specialist centres, "provides affordable care for patients, leads patient-driven clinical research and provides undergraduate to postgraduate educational training for both students and medical professionals".

Of the 10 top hospitals, as chosen by the magazine's panel of doctors, medical professionals and administrators in four continents, four are from the United States.

Prof Kenneth Kwek, SGH’s chief executive officer, said: “We are humbled to be recognised for our medical and nursing care.”

SGH, he said, has a strong tradition of working to improve the outcomes of patients through integrated clinical practice, innovation, cutting edge research and new models of care. “Our staff are passionate about healthcare and we continually challenge ourselves to do better for our patients, their family members and our staff,” he added.

The only other hospital in Asia to make the list is the University of Tokyo Hospital, in eighth place. This hospital opened the trail-blazing Department of Disaster Medical Management, said the magazine.

The top 10 hospitals in Newsweek's list are:

1. Mayo Clinic (US): "It's the non-profit's peerless education arm... along with superb patient support" that snagged it the top spot.

2. Cleveland Clinic (US): "Site of the world's first total facial transplant... (it) is among the largest medical providers in the world, with over 7.6 million patient visits in 2017".

3. Singapore General Hospital: "The island nation's largest health system, serving more than one million patients annually."

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4. Johns Hopkins Hospital (US): "A leader in neurosurgery and child psychiatry, the Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic was also the first in the United States to complete male-to-female reassignment surgery."

5. Charite (Germany): "On the cutting-edge of biomedical innovation, with biotech start-up labs, advisory roles and business initiatives focused on the convergence of technology and medicine."

6. Massachusetts General Hospital (US): "With an annual research budget of more than US$912 million (S$1.2 billion), it also has the largest hospital-based research programme; over 1,200 clinical trials are conducted at Mass General at any given time."

7. Toronto General Hospital (Canada): "It leads transplantation research and innovation, accomplishing many 'firsts', including a triple organ transplant (double-lung, liver and pancreas)."

8. University of Tokyo Hospital (Japan): "Japan's vital medical hub has advanced both medical research and practice, while educating the top doctors and researchers in the country."

9. Lausanne University Hospital (Switzerland): "It was one of only two hospitals in Switzerland's 'Health Valley' chosen by the World Health Organisation to conduct the all-important Ebola vaccine trials in October 2014."

10. Sheba Medical Centre (Israel): "More than 25 per cent of all Israeli medical clinical research takes place at its state-of-the-art facilities."

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