Locations of SingHealth Dental Clinics
Ministry of HealthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the accessibility of SingHealth dental clinics, with Mr Zainal Sapari inquiring about location criteria, waiting times, and expansion into big estates. Minister Gan Kim Yong noted that subsidized care is provided via 10 polyclinics and 700 CHAS clinics, with median waiting times improving to 4.5 months. Specifically, three SingHealth polyclinics in the eastern region served 31,000 attendances in 2017, illustrating the Ministry's integrated approach to capacity planning. The Ministry of Health evaluates both public and private CHAS options when determining regional needs, rather than providing dental services in every polyclinic. This ensures geographic locations have sufficient subsidized capacity to meet demand while optimizing the distribution of healthcare resources across Singapore.
Transcript
54 Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for Health (a) what are the considerations for the locations of SingHealth dental clinics; (b) what is the average waiting time for patients to make a dental appointment; (c) whether there are plans to have more SingHealth dental clinics in other big estates to enable affordable dental services and accessibility to the public; and (d) whether a SingHealth dental clinic can be made available in every polyclinic.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: Singaporeans can receive subsidised primary dental care at polyclinics as well as private dental clinics through the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS). There are currently more than 700 CHAS dental clinics and, together, they served a total of about 438,000 patient attendances in 2017.
Ten of our polyclinics also offer subsidised primary care dental services. The median waiting time for new dental appointments at our polyclinics is about 4.5 months in 2017, compared to 5.8 months in 2013.
Specifically on the Member's question about dental clinics at SingHealth polyclinics, there are three of them in the eastern region, serving about 31,000 patient attendances in 2017. They are Bedok Polyclinic, Punggol Polyclinic and Tampines Polyclinic.
In planning for dental care capacity, The Ministry of Health takes into account both CHAS dental clinics and polyclinic dental capacity. Therefore, not every polyclinic will need to provide dental care services, if overall, there is adequate subsidised capacity to meet the dental care needs within a geographic location.