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Living City: Free TCM care on wheels

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For two hours every Thursday night, the drop-off point at Block 64 Kallang Bahru transforms into a clinic for the elderly and needy.

The "consultation room" is made up of portable tables and chairs. The pharmacy operates out of the back of a modified truck.

“When we started out, we were the first charity organisation to have a mobile clinic,” said Traditional Chinese Medicine physician  Xie Xi Er, 71, who has been a volunteer at Kwan-In Welfare Society for more than 20 years. 

Since 1975, the society has been providing free TCM services to the needy in Singapore. In those days, the charity organisation sent mobile clinics to remote kampungs where access to medical care was limited. 

“Today, the environment has changed and we provide medical services at HDB estates,” she said.

At its peak in the 1980s, the charity organisation operated seven mobile clinics. Today, it runs two mobile clinics that travel to 10 housing estates in Singapore six nights a week.

In this episode of Living City,  which explores Singapore's overlooked spaces and places, the Straits Times Video team visits Block 64 Kallang Bahru on a Thursday evening when the mobile clinic makes its weekly visit.

Traditional Chinese Medicineclinic