POLYCLINIC IN YISHUN CENTRAL

Mr Cheo Chai Chen asked the Minister for Health (a) when will the construction of the polyclinic in Yishun Central, opposite Blk 647 be completed; (b) whether and why there is a delay in the construction; and (c) when will the polyclinic be opened.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: The Ministry had originally planned to build a polyclinic in Yishun Central. However, this plan has been changed arising from one of the recommendations of the Review Committee on National Health Policies. The Review Committee recommended that the Government should consider some alternative approaches to primary care provision, such as building multi-purpose clinics for leasing out to GPs. Such multi-purpose clinics or "medical centres", besides providing clinic suites for doctors, would also provide support services like laboratory, X-ray, pharmacy and health related retail shops, thus serving as a "one-stop" medical centre for the convenience of patients. In addition, GPs working in the medical centre could pool their resources and offer a wider range of services, for example, opening not only evening clinics, but perhaps, even 24-hour clinics, and providing house-call services, etc. By pooling resources, individual GPs would also have more time to upgrade themselves through attending continuing medical education programmes. Another aspect of this purpose-built medical centre is that, by leasing it out only to doctors and related services, they need not compete for the tender with suppliers of non-medical services. Since the building in Yishun Central was already under construction, it offered the earliest opportunity for a pilot project to be carried out. We expect the Yishun Central medical centre to be operational in January 1994. My Ministry will continue to provide primary health services for Yishun residents in the existing Sembawang Outpatient Dispensary and Sembawang and Mandai Maternal and Child Health Clinics.