ST : Two new nursing homes in the west

Mar 7, 2010

Two new nursing homes in the west

By Goh Chin Lian

Singapore's western region will have two new nursing homes by 2012, to meet the demands of the country's rapidly ageing population.

The Government will pick up the tab of building the facilities at Bukit Batok Street 51 and Jurong West Street 91, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said last month.

Each 250-bed home will cost an estimated $15 million to $20 million to build, it said in a document obtained by The Sunday Times

inviting consultants to provide building-related services.

The homes - scheduled to be completed around the second or third quarter of 2012 - are part of a plan to add 5,000 nursing-home beds here over a decade.

The Government is already footing the bill for three new 250-bed nursing homes in the northern region. They are due to open next year.

The three - in Yishun, Punggol and Sembawang - are estimated to cost $25 million each. They will be run by voluntary welfare organisations Villa Francis, Bright Hill Evergreen Home and Singapore Christian Home respectively.

The MOH told The Sunday Times it will identify the operators of the two new nursing homes in the west at a later stage.

Explaining the choice of location, it said there were fewer nursing homes in the west compared with the number in other regions.

Of the 63 nursing homes run by private operators and voluntary welfare organisations, seven are in the west.

The east and the north each have double that figure, while the central/south region has more than three times that number, the MOH said.

There were 9,200 nursing-home beds, as of December last year, but demand is expected to go up as the population of the elderly soars.

By 2030, 900,000 people here will be over the age of 65, about treble the number today.

The MOH said the new nursing homes in the west are expected to serve primarily subsidised patients. The facilities will not be very different from those in many existing purpose-built nursing homes, it added.

The new homes will be equipped to handle people with dementia who cannot do simple things like dressing or eating.

Five nursing homes in the west told The Sunday Times they have reached full - or almost full - capacity. Patients typically stay for a period ranging from a few months to several years.

Hong Kah GRC MP Ang Mong Seng, whose ward will include the Bukit Batok nursing home, noted the lack of nursing homes serving the western region.

As demand goes up, senior citizens in the area will benefit from having one close by, he said.