Affordable Primary Healthcare For Sengkang And Punggol Residents

01 Oct 2001

The Ministry of Health will develop a new polyclinic in Sengkang by 2004 to provide affordable primary healthcare services to Sengkang and Punggol residents.

Sengkang currently has a resident population of about 100,000. This is expected to increase to 150,000 in 2005. Punggol is also expected to have a population of 95,000 by then. The new polyclinic will serve the growing population in these two new towns. The Ministry is currently looking for a suitable site in Sengkang for the new polyclinic. The site would most likely be near the town centre to provide convenient access to residents. Work will begin in early 2002 and should complete by 2004.

The new polyclinic will be a community primary healthcare centre offering a comprehensive range of facilities and services. These would include outpatient medical care, treatment and dressing as well as support services such as pharmacy, laboratory and X-ray services. In addition, the new polyclinic will offer family planning, antenatal and postnatal care and developmental assessment of children to meet the needs of the primarily younger population in Sengkang and Punggol. Besides providing medical services, the polyclinic will also play an important role in promoting better healthcare among Sengkang and Punggol residents through its health screening facilities, disease management plans and health education programmes.

In July this year, the Ministry of Health extended the Primary Care Partnership Scheme to Sengkang. Under this scheme, private general practitioners (GPs) are contracted to provide subsidised primary care to needy elderly residents. These residents now have the added convenience of receiving subsidised care at private clinics near their homes instead of travelling to a polyclinic. Three out of the four private GPs in Sengkang have since signed up to provide the service. The new polyclinic, when it is up, will find ways to deepen current collaborative efforts with GPs. Together, the polyclinic and its network of GPs can deliver better primary care to their community.

The Ministry of Health will continue to ensure that lower income Singaporeans have access to good and affordable primary healthcare. New polyclinics will be built to keep up with population growth. In doing so, we will ensure that the public sector's share of the primary healthcare market remains within the 25% level set in the 1993 White Paper on Affordable Healthcare. The Ministry is conducting a survey to update the public sector's market share. Results of the survey will be available end of the year.