Khoo Teck Puat Hospital holds open house
SINGAPORE : Part of the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in
Yishun will open on Monday, and residents living in the area were
given a glimpse of the facilities during its open house on
Sunday.
The S$800 million hospital took some three and half years
to build.
For now, only its Specialist Outpatient Clinics will open, as the
rest of the hospital - including inpatient wards - will be ready
from July.
The hospital is also starting slow - seeing about 200 patients a
day rather than the 2,000 it is designed to take when fully
functional.
It is about the same size as Changi General Hospital, but has fewer
beds, numbering 555.
Liak Teng Lit, CEO, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, explained: "What has
happened is that more healthcare has been shifted out to day
surgery, to day care. We do not need to admit patients into the
ward to do a lot of the surgical procedures, for example.
"We have many more clinics, and we also have more facilities for
outpatient care, day surgery and so on. And we also have more
isolation rooms because (of lessons learnt) from SARS, and...the
last infectious disease outbreak. We know that we need to
have...isolation rooms.")
Visitors were also pleased with the convenience of having a
hospital in the heartlands.
One visitor said: " (This is) very convenient for all nearby
residents, (we) do not need to go to downtown to see a
specialist."
Another commented: "Even though I live in the Ang Mo Kio area, it
is not really that far. My first impression is that it is really
spacious. What I like very much is the pond outside."
Architects also put much thought into the hospital's design to
reduce energy usage - by having solar panels and harnessing natural
breezes.
Mr Liak said: "We also built a rooftop garden, mainly to reduce the
heat-load and basically to improve the whole ambience. We have
planted a lot of fruit trees; we have over a hundred fruit trees on
the roof, including durian, and we are planting vegetables."
Residents who are helping to plant the vegetables will get half the
harvest, while patients will enjoy the other half.
- CNA/ms