Health Minister Ong Ye Kung 'dismayed' at company's S$52,000 monthly rental bid for Tampines clinic
SINGAPORE: Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said he was "dismayed" at a healthcare company's S$52,188 monthly rental bid for a clinic in a Housing and Development Board (HDB) estate in Tampines.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday night (Jun 4), Mr Ong said: "This must translate to higher cost of healthcare one way or another, and negate the effort of Ministry of Health, Singapore (MOH) to try to keep the cost of primary healthcare affordable.
"More importantly, higher rental bids do not necessarily translate to the best healthcare that the community needs."
The successful bid for the ground floor unit at Block 954C Tampines Street 96 by I-Health Medical Holdings in January has led to discussions online about rental fees and healthcare costs.
The rental works out to over S$1,000 per sq m.
NEW TENDER APPROACH
He noted that MOH and HDB last month launched a new tender approach for general practitioner (GP) clinics at Bartley Beacon.
In the new approach, quality of care will account for 70 per cent of the tender evaluation, and rental will make up 30 per cent.
The unit is about 100 sq m – twice the size of normal clinics – and suited for clinics which intend to provide multi-disciplinary care and "try out new care models", he added.
'Through this Price-Quality evaluation Model (PQM), we can shift the competitive focus away from rental rates, to better care models, including preventive care, chronic disease management and mental health,' Mr Ong said.
The tender for the unit at Bartley Beacon was closed on May 29.
'I understand from my MOH officers that we have received interesting proposals, with rental bid prices significantly below the Tampines site in per sqm terms. We are currently assessing the proposals,' he said.
Mr Ong noted the Tampines clinic was tendered in December 2024 and awarded in March this year, before the PQM model started.
'Going forward, and given the encouraging response to the Bartley Beacon site, we will make the new PQM approach the norm, when tendering our GP clinics in our HDB heartlands,' Mr Ong said.
'It will be a meaningful shift, both in improving primary care, and ensuring greater affordability.'
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Analysts observe that the IOMed is being positioned as a model that is more acutely attuned to cultural sensitivities. 'What sets IOMed apart from institutions like the ICJ or PCA is its philosophical orientation,' said Kun Fan, an arbitrator and associate professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). 'While those global bodies centre on binding adjudication, IOMed will adopt a softer, consensus-based model grounded in mediation, compromise and cultural sensitivity,' she added. Enthusiasm and support from developing countries have also signalled Beijing's efforts to court the Global South, experts noted. Global bodies like the ICJ, PCA and International Criminal Court (ICC), 'lack objectivity and neutrality and cannot be trusted to deliver justice in global governance', said Joyce Chimbi, a journalist from Kenya, one of 33 countries which joined the IOMed. 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'Most are also countries in the Global South where China wants to position itself as a global leader.' Also on the list are Venezuela, Iran and Cuba, which Rust described as countries 'targeted or excluded by the US and its connected international bodies to varying degrees'. And for now, the usual China-friendly countries like Russia, as well as Central Asian states, have not signed up as members. 22:28 Min Fan from UNSW also noted that several countries are Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) member-states. 'These early signatories signal that the IOMed is an institution clearly positioned within the BRI ecosystem,' she said. "The aim is not simply to serve disputes but to offer more inclusive and culturally resonant institutional architecture that reflect BRI values and interests." 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Work could begin as early as the end of this year, Hong Kong government officials said, revealing that the IOMed would later establish a secretariat and governing council. Signatory countries will be eligible to nominate their own nationals as mediators, said Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Paul Lam. 'The acceptance and influence of the IOMed will depend much on how it will administer the organisation and more importantly, how professional are their mediators - they must get those in the field and not just political figures,' Boo said, adding that he was 'hopeful initial reservations and anti-China bias would give way to pragmatic acceptance'. Hong Kong is already an arbitration hub, tying with Singapore for second place, behind London, as the top choice for a seat of arbitration this year, according to the 2025 International Arbitration Survey conducted by Queen Mary University of London. While some view the China-led IOMed as a potential competitor to existing dispute resolution centres in the region, analysts say the initiative is more likely to complement rather than displace established players in the region. These include the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) and Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), both of which have earned reputations as leading institutions in Asia. 'We're witnessing the emergence of a more multipolar dispute resolution ecosystem,' said Fan, describing it as multiple tracks 'reflecting different legal traditions and institutional logics, which can be tailored to different users' needs'. Boo views IOMed's arrival as a positive step - particularly in raising global awareness of mediation as a viable and often underused method of resolving international disputes. 'There is now an international organisation willing to champion mediation as the more appropriate form of dispute resolution,' he said. Institutions like Singapore's SIMC and SIAC will 'continue to be relevant', Boo said, suggesting that IOMed might need the 'support of existing institutions to promote its cause'. In his view, increased global awareness of mediation could in fact raise caseloads for SIMC, rather than divert them. He added that arbitration and mediation are not mutually exclusive but 'different nodes of resolving disputes' which could 'grow in tandem without affecting the other'. But IOMed's primary focus would still be on state-to-state disputes as well as Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) - mechanisms in trade and investment agreements allowing for foreign investors to resolve disputes with foreign governments of countries they are investing in. This is distinctive from commercial caseloads that dominate Singapore's arbitration and mediation landscape, Boo said. 'IMPORTANT QUESTIONS' REMAIN While China has said that the IOMed would adhere to international law and the United Nations Charter, experts have raised questions about its impartiality and credibility. 'Like many major global powers, China often tries to ignore or go around international legal proceedings and rulings which are not in their favour,' said Chong from NUS, noting that Beijing's record of solving disputes tended to be 'primarily political rather than legal'. He recalled Beijing's dismissal of a 2016 landmark PCA decision in the Hague, which ruled in favour of the Philippines - concluding that China had no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the disputed South China Sea. 'China's new mediation body will ultimately serve as an alternative to the ICJ (by providing) a more suitable legal system which Beijing is comfortable with,' he said. However, major questions remain, Chong said. For instance, he questioned whether the IOMed would be able to rule against Beijing given that courts in both Hong Kong and mainland China have refused to do so in the past, and whether it could also re-litigate decisions made previously at the ICJ. 'Would this encourage other major powers to further ignore international law - if global rulings (elsewhere weren't in their favour)? Could these major powers start setting up their own courts that conform more with their own legal systems and comfort levels?' he asked. 'These are important questions that remain unresolved and ultimately, more questions remain than answers.'
