Makeover In The Heartlands

Source : TODAY, Monday, October 1, 2007

Healthcare hub in the making, Yishun may get hotels and university too

Yishun estate is set for a major makeover, with plans over the next few years to turn its town centre into the hub of the north.

The Government is eyeing a 10-hectare plot of State land bordering Yishun Central and Yishun Central 1 to house a new hospital and a slew of specialised medical centres, or alternatively a campus for a foreign university.

In sketching his vision to revitalise the middle aged housing estate, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who is also an MP for Sembawang GRC, said that as the population in the north grows, so will their healthcare demands.

"Eventually when the north's population grows, the healthcare needs will expand. The possibility of a cluster is highly feasible. Let's reserve the land to form a land bank, so that when market needs are expressed, we have the land to support it," he said at the launch of the Housing and Development Board's (HDB) "Remaking Our Heartland" exhibition at Yishun Town.

Apart from a polyclinic that is in operation, the estate is looking forward to a 550-bed Khoo Teck Puat Hospital — scheduled to be ready in 2010 — and a future community hospital.

The late Mr Khoo Teck Puat was a banker and a philanthropist.

Mr Khaw, said land that has been set aside could be used for a medical cluster around the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, complete with specialty centres and even possibly hotels.

"Because if the foreign patients come all the way to the north and the hotels are in the Orchard Road area, it is quite far away. So, I won't write off ideas like this," said Mr Khaw.

This vision is made more real now, he said, considering that healthcare clusters exist in other areas — Singapore General Hospital at Outram, the National University Hospital of Singapore along the Ayer Rajah Expressway and Tan Tock Seng Hospital at Novena.

"The key point is the economy. If the economy continues to be robust and we attract more foreign patients along the way, then I think a facility like that will be useful," said the minister.

Meanwhile, in spite of rising construction costs, Mr Khaw said that the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, which could cost up to 20 per cent more than expected, will still be built as planned, but the Government will take its time to build the hospital in Jurong.

Explaining his rationale, he said there was no point heading into the current construction frenzy when the tender price would be too high, otherwise, "the high cost will eventually be borne by everybody, by society, by Government and by patients".

Meanwhile, a survey by the HDB showed 58 per cent of people are keen to have the shopping complex in Yishun while 43 per cent want pedestrian walkways upgraded.

But this survey is still ongoing.

In contrast, the "Remaking Our Heartland" survey showed a 97-per cent support for the Punggol plans.

The two estates were singled out by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech last month.