Health Minister Ong Ye Kung ‘dismayed' at $52k bid to rent Tampines HDB clinic; S'pore woman names daughter after Sun Xueling: Singapore live news
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung is "dismayed" at the $52,188 monthly rental bid for a general practitioner (GP) clinic in a Tampines HDB estate as "this must translate to higher cost of healthcare one way or another." I-Health Medical's unusually high bid to operate the 52 sq m ground-floor unit at Block 954C Tampines Street 96 continues to draw attention but a co-owner for the company insists they will not raise prices to compensate for their rental costs. Health Minister Ong said that going forward, bids for future HDB GP clinics will be assessed using a Price-Quality evaluation Model (PQM) that focuses less on price, and more on quality of care.
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Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has expressed his dismay at the $52,188 monthly rental bid for a general practitioner (GP) clinic in a Tampines HDB estate as "this must translate to higher cost of healthcare one way or another."
The health minister made the comment in a Facebook post on 4 June after media reports of I-Health Medical's unusually high tender bid to operate the 52 sq m ground-floor unit at Block 954C Tampines Street 96.
Earlier this week, a co-owner for the healthcare firm, Andrew Chim had explained the unit's location near several Build-To-Order projects as well as the surrounding competition justified the high rental amount. Chim, in the same interview with the Straits Times, also said the company would not increase their prices. "Rent is not commensurate with [consultation] fee," Chim said in a separate interview with CNA. "I can assure you that the total bill for different cases will be in range for other heartland clinics."
HDB has also moved to assure the public that the rental for this Tampines clinic "does not set any price requirements for future tenders by HDB, and it also will not affect the rentals that HDB is charging other existing clinics."
I-Health Medical tendered for the Tampines unit in December 2024 and won it in March. This was before the Ministry of Health (MOH) and HDB had launched a new tender approach for GP clinics at Bartley Beacon last month.
Health Minister Ong said that going forward, bids for future HDB GP clinics will be assessed using a Price-Quality evaluation Model (PQM) that focuses less on price, and more on quality of care. "Quality of care will account for 70% of the tender evaluation, and rental 30%," he said.
"We will make the new PQM approach the norm, when tendering our GP clinics in our HDB heartlands," Ong said.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has expressed his dismay at the $52,188 monthly rental bid for a general practitioner (GP) clinic in a Tampines HDB estate as "this must translate to higher cost of healthcare one way or another."
The health minister made the comment in a Facebook post on 4 June after media reports of I-Health Medical's unusually high tender bid to operate the 52 sq m ground-floor unit at Block 954C Tampines Street 96.
Earlier this week, a co-owner for the healthcare firm, Andrew Chim had explained the unit's location near several Build-To-Order projects as well as the surrounding competition justified the high rental amount. Chim, in the same interview with the Straits Times, also said the company would not increase their prices. "Rent is not commensurate with [consultation] fee," Chim said in a separate interview with CNA. "I can assure you that the total bill for different cases will be in range for other heartland clinics."
HDB has also moved to assure the public that the rental for this Tampines clinic "does not set any price requirements for future tenders by HDB, and it also will not affect the rentals that HDB is charging other existing clinics."
I-Health Medical tendered for the Tampines unit in December 2024 and won it in March. This was before the Ministry of Health (MOH) and HDB had launched a new tender approach for GP clinics at Bartley Beacon last month.
Health Minister Ong said that going forward, bids for future HDB GP clinics will be assessed using a Price-Quality evaluation Model (PQM) that focuses less on price, and more on quality of care. "Quality of care will account for 70% of the tender evaluation, and rental 30%," he said.
"We will make the new PQM approach the norm, when tendering our GP clinics in our HDB heartlands," Ong said.
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