IHH will advance the tracking of ATOs in order to promote responsible antibiotic use, a key performance metric under the loan facility. The initiative also supports Singapore’s National Strategic Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance.
Mainboard-listed IHH Healthcare has secured a $250 million sustainability-linked loan from DBS with a first-of-its-kind facility tied to improvements in antibiotic compliance rates across IHH’s four hospitals in Singapore.
Currently, antibiotic “time-outs” (ATO) compliance rates are not consistently tracked across the healthcare sector. ATOs are structured follow-up reviews within 72 hours of starting treatment to assess whether antibiotics should be continued or adjusted. They have been shown to improve patient outcomes while reducing the risk of drug resistance.
