Standardising Charges for Consultations, Procedures and Medications across Polyclinics

Dr Chia Shi-Lu asked the Minister for Health considering that most Singaporeans who seek treatment at polyclinics choose those nearest their homes, whether the Ministry will consider standardising or minimising the differences in charges for consultations, procedures and medications to ensure pricing equality for all patients living in different regions.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: While polyclinics offer similar services and medications, each cluster may have a different operating model to suit the needs of its patients based on their profile. Therefore, their cost structures can vary from one another, and this may result in some fee variation across polyclinic clusters.

Nevertheless, there should not be wide variation in charges for similar services and medications. Today, consultation fees are already very similar across the three clusters, and MOH has been working with the polyclinics to review the charges of their services and medications to reduce unwarranted variations.