QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER (not reached by 3.30 p.m.) BIGGER HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD LIFTS (Need to accommodate first-aid apparatus)

Dr Tan Cheng Bock asked the Minister for National Development whether he is aware that sick residents who need to be carried by stretchers cannot get into the Housing and Development Board lifts and that patients on wheel-chairs have difficulties getting into such lifts; and whether the HDB has any plan to provide bigger lifts in the future.

Mr Teh Cheang Wan: HDB apartment blocks are fitted with standard 8-passenger lifts. These lifts can comfortably accommodate the wheel-chair.

To accommodate stretchers, it will be necessary to install 26-passenger capacity lifts in apartment blocks. The initial outlay as well as the operating cost of these lifts will be substantially higher. In addition, lift shafts and motor-rooms will have to be enlarged if existing lifts are to be replaced. Unlike hospitals, the low frequency of use of stretchers in HDB blocks does not justify the high costs of installing and operating lifts big enough to accommodate them.