Clinic a hit with those chronic conditions
A clinic offering affordable and faster care has been a boon for Choa Chu Kang residents with chronic conditions since it opened in April last year.
Keat Hong Family Medicine Clinic helps patients manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and it also provides physiotherapy, ultrasound scans and health screenings.
The clinic sees nearly 1,500 patients every month, 60 per cent of whom have chronic conditions. Besides walk-in patients, it also gets patients who are referred by a hospital or polyclinic.
One advantage of the clinic is its shorter waiting time, said Dr Loke Kam Weng, the clinic's director.
"The average waiting time differs... but we probably can see patients within 20 minutes, and they should be able to collect their medicine within 40 minutes."
The clinic is a public-private partnership between the National University Health System and Trilink Healthcare. It is one of eight family medicine clinics funded by the Health Ministry as part of its Beyond Hospital to Community push to make primary care more accessible.
The 607 sq m clinic offers subsidised care under the Community Health Assist Scheme and the Pioneer Generation Package. Its consultation and medication costs are similar to that of polyclinics.
From June, the facility will become the first family medicine clinic to treat patients with non-complex eye conditions such as stable glaucoma, in partnership with National University Hospital's ophthalmology department.
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