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Ong Ye Kung ‘dismayed’ at $52k bid to rent Tampines HDB clinic
I-Health Medical Holdings won the tender to operate the 50 sq m ground-floor unit at Block 954C Tampines Street 96 in March. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
SINGAPORE - Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said he was “dismayed” at the $52,188 monthly rental bid for a general practitioner (GP) clinic in a Tampines HDB estate as it may lead to higher healthcare costs for residents.
He pointed out that going forward, bids for future HDB GP clinics will be assessed using a model that focuses less on price, and more on quality of care, he said in a Facebook post on June 4.
Mr Ong said the high rental bid would “translate to higher cost of healthcare one way or another” and negate the Health Ministry’s efforts to keep the cost of primary healthcare affordable.
“More importantly, higher rental bids do not necessarily translate to the best healthcare that the community needs,” he added.
I-Health Medical Holdings had won the tender to operate the 50 sq m ground-floor unit at Block 954C Tampines Street 96 in March.
But the issue recently came to public attention after a doctor called the $52,188 monthly rent “obscene” in a LinkedIn post. It sparked discussion over rising rentals and healthcare costs.
Mr Andrew Chim, 37, the co-owner of I-Health Medical Holdings, had said told The Straits Times that his bid was based on the attractive attributes of the area.
He said the unit is in the middle of five Build-To-Order projects with 5,000 households, and near upcoming developments like a new mixed-use project and a shopping mall.
On June 4, Mr Ong pointed to the new tender approach for GP clinics that MOH and HDB had first launched at the Bartley Beacon development in May.
Under this new “price-quality evaluation model”, quality of care will account for 70 per cent of tender evaluation and rental price the remaining 30 per cent.
The Bartley Beacon tender closed on May 29, and Mr Ong said MOH received proposals with rental bids significantly below that for the Tampines site.
He noted that the Tampines clinic launched for tender in December 2024 and was awarded in March 2025, before tenders took on the price-quality evaluation model.
The new model which will be the norm moving forward and shift the focus away from rental rates.
“It will be a meaningful shift, both in improving primary care, and ensuring greater affordability,” Mr Ong said.
General practitioners who run clinics in HDB estates either rent directly from the state, or from landlords who own HDB commercial units.
GPs that the The Straits Times spoke to felt the $52,188 rental was too high to be sustainable. Some doctors that rented from private landlords described a volatile rental market that has seen prices rising after the pandemic.
Dr Conrad Chin, who runs the E. L. Chin Family Clinic and Surgery in Clementi, said he thought the rental amount was outrageous.
“Most older doctors do not pay above $2,000 for rent. I doubt that the ($52,188) price is sustainable in the long term,” he added.
Dr Wong Choo Wai, who runs two HDB clinics in Bedok and Jurong, said if rent is not sustainable the clinic will have to pass on the cost to patients.
Dr Wong, who rented before buying his own units in 2009 and 2015, said the rental market has been volatile.
“When the clinic starts doing well, private landlords may jack up the rent,” he said.
In 2009, the landlord for his Bedok unit asked for a 40 per cent increase in rent. As the rent “did not make sense” for the clinic, Dr Wong bought a neighbouring unit for about $750,000.
“I’m thankful I made the decision to buy, else I will be at the mercy of the landlord,” he added.
A doctor who runs a clinic in Clementi, and declined to be named, said he hopes the $52,188 rent will not trigger rent hikes as small businesses are already struggling with rentals.
“Anything over $10,000 would be difficult for me to run the clinic. As solo GPs, we don’t make that kind of money to justify the rental,” he said.
Parkway Shenton chief executive Tay Wee Kai said that rents at their clinics in HDB estates have increased across the board post Covid-19.
“This is partly due to inflation and also due to some landlords adopting a “catch-up” mentality and expecting higher rent,” he said.
Mr Tay added that during the Covid-19 pandemic, rents remained stagnant and even went down at some locations. Their branches in HDB estates comprise about half of their more than 30 clinics.
- Isabelle Liew is a journalist at The Straits Times. She covers housing issues in Singapore, with a focus on public housing.
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