YISHUN MEDICAL CENTRE (Conversion into a polyclinic)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Ong Ah Heng asked the Minister for Health what are the plans for the conversion of Yishun Medical Centre into a polyclinic.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Aline K. Wong) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, Sir, in 1992, the Review Committee on Health Policies recommended that the Government explore alternative approaches in providing primary health care, eg, to provide customised multi-purpose buildings to be leased to general practitioners and group practices. At that time, as the proposed Yishun Polyclinic was under construction, my Ministry decided to convert the polyclinic into a medical centre as a pilot project.

The Ministry appointed EM Services Pte Ltd as its managing agent for Yishun Medical Centre. EM Services advertised in the press to lease out the units. Despite repeated attempts using various measures to market the units, the uptake was poor. As we did not want the building to be grossly under-utilised, we also allowed non-medical related agencies to rent the units in the Yishun Medical Centre.

Towards the end of the 3-year pilot project, the Ministry conducted a review of this scheme. It concluded that it has not been successful and decided to explore the possibility of converting Yishun Medical Centre into a polyclinic when the leases of the tenants expire. The Land Office had also indicated that if the building was not being used for medical purposes, it should be returned to the Land Office.

In February this year, we received Mr Ong Ah Heng's appeal to convert the Yishun Medical Centre into a Government polyclinic, arising from numerous requests from residents for a polyclinic in Yishun. Since most of the tenants' leases were coming to an end in March and April 1997, my Ministry decided to convert the Yishun Medical Centre into a polyclinic.

The polyclinic will occupy the first two floors. It will provide a one-stop centre for outpatient services and maternal and child health care. It will have a laboratory and an X-ray facility.

We are now in the process of requesting for funds for the conversion and plan to start the renovation works in a few months' time. It will take about six months to convert the building into a polyclinic.