THE growing demand for health care as well as lower set-up costs is leading one clinic chain to push aggressively with expansion.
Healthway Medical, which owns one of the largest networks of general practice clinics in Singapore, announced earlier this month that it plans to move into the market for specialised medical services with its first eye centre and ear, nose and throat (ENT) centre to open in July.
They are the first of 16 new GP and specialist clinics to be opened over the next six months to add to its portfolio of 80, group managing director Wong Weng Hong told The Straits Times. Most will be located in heartland areas such as Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh.
The specialist eye and ENT centres will be located at the Mount Alvernia hospital and medical centre respectively. Dr Wong expects them to be supported by the group's large primary care patient base of 300,000.
Also in the works, he said, was a 'one stop' medical centre for specialist medical treatment in Orchard Road.
Dr Wong said the centre would have a diagnostic laboratory and offer treatment for eye conditions and basic procedures such as colonoscopy, to examine the inside of the large intestine to detect polyps, tumours and inflammation.
The expansion plans are expected to cost just under $10 million.
Established in 1990 with 15 GP clinics, in areas such as Jurong East, Pasir Ris, Tampines, the group doubled its number of clinics in seven years.
In the last two years it has moved into specialist services with the acquisition of specialist practices like Thomson Paediatric Centre and Island Orthopaedic.
It has more than 140 doctors and 315 nurses and clinical staff.
Said Dr Wong: 'Unlike other industries, demand in the private health-care sector has remained consistent.
'In fact it has been easier to source locations at more affordable prices in this climate.'
Building on Healthway's base in the heartlands, patients can expect rates to be comparable to unsubsidised rates in public hospitals, said Dr Wang Jenn Chyuan, who will helm the eye centre.
For example, cataract surgery will cost under $3,000, compared with the cheapest packages offered at restructured hospitals of between $2,500 and $3,000, he said.
Dr Wang, 39, previously a consultant at the department of ophthalmology at the National University Hospital (NUH) said that the addition of specialist services enabled the group to offer 'holistic and integrated' care for patients.
Healthway's expansion would give it greater economies of scale, said Professor Phua Kai Hong, a health economist from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
In addition, he said, 'They are taking advantage of low costs during the downturn, which could leave them strategically placed once the economy picks up again.'
The move into specialised medical services is also in line with changing consumer needs.
'Singaporeans are no longer satisfied with the basic services a GP provides. Increasingly today, they have more sophisticated needs that medical providers have to cater to,' noted Prof Phua.
