NUH to house new heart, cancer centres
Existing ones are stretched, while greying population will drive
demand
By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
TWO new national specialist centres will be set up at the National
University Hospital to meet the growing need for heart and cancer
treatments.
The two existing centres next to the Singapore General Hospital in
Outram are already stretched, even as demand for specialist care in
dealing with Singapore's top two killers grows.
.
.
The National Cancer Centre is running out of room. It had to move
its cafe into the car park and take over space from the nearby
Health Promotion Board.
The pattern is similar for heart problems, with the number of
outpatient treatments set to jump from 200,000 a year now to
320,000 by 2015.
The 13-year-old National Heart Centre, which treats about half the
heart patients, had to start Saturday clinics for its subsidised
patients this year, to cope with the demand.
'It is really chock-a-block now. Every nook and cranny is being
made use of,' said Mr Khaw.
Looking ahead, he said: 'I'm asking the existing specialty centres
to aim higher. Centres like the Singapore National Eye
Centre...ought to look at their role as the referral centres of the
region.'
Once again, the Health Minister is ignoring the poor Singaporean
patients and concentrating on being the "referral centres of the
region" for the rich Indonesians.... 
Where is the Yishun hospital that was supposed to be built by 2006
and serve the HDB estates in the north? Conveniently forgotten once
the election is over. Instead we are building fancy new centres to
serve the "Region". Only thing is, the "region" Khaw is coming from
is not Singapore but Malaysia!!!
So it is OK if TTSH A&E is "chock-a-block now" and Singaporeans
with heart attacks have to wait at the A&E. but it NOT OK if
rich Indonesians cannot get their cancer appointment?
Besides, NCC is a 6 storey building - only the first 2 floors are
being used for clinics (the rest is for research & admin) -
what is he talking about when he says there is no more space? He so
concerned about creating space, move his huge colonial MOH building
out of SGH and use it for clinics lah! If u go to MOH, you will see
the first floor is nothing but an EMPTY lobby with a GRAND (like
victoria concert hall) staircase leading up to his office! While
across the road, A&E patients are being double- or
triple-parked side by side in the CORRIDOR. 
