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[SINGAPORE] Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung has expressed his dismay at the S$52,188 bid that a GP (general practitioner) clinic in Tampines received in a tender, which closed in January this year.

In a Facebook post, he said the monthly rental for the clinic – amounting to more than S$1,000 per square metre (psm) – would translate into higher healthcare costs one way or other, and negate the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) 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 wrote.

The S$52,188 bid was put in by I-Health Medical Holdings for the unit at Block 954C in Tampines Street 96. Thirteen bids were submitted for the clinic, with the news making waves online over the weekend.

The role of a GP is increasingly important, as our population ages, Ong said.

“The GP is key in developing a relationship of trust with patients, and to guide them towards better health. He or she is the vital link to connect patients to acute hospital care, preventive community care and social prescriptions.”

The minister added that this was why in May, MOH and the Housing and Development Board launched a new tender approach for GP clinics at Bartley Beacon, a Build-To-Order development. Quality of care will account for 70 per cent of the tender evaluation, and rental, 30 per cent, he added. 

The unit is a larger unit, about 100 sq m, twice the size of normal clinics, and suitable for clinics that intend to provide multi-disciplinary care and try out new models of care, Ong said.

“Through this price-quality evaluation model (PQM), we can shift the competitive focus away from rental rates to better care models – including preventive care, chronic disease management and mental health,” he said.

“The tender was closed on May 29. I understand from my MOH officers that we have received interesting proposals, with rental bid prices significantly below the Tampines site in psm terms. We are currently assessing the proposals.”

The Tampines clinic was tendered in December 2024 and awarded in March 2025, before MOH embarked on the PQM model, Ong said. 

“Going forward, and given the encouraging response to the Bartley Beacon site, we will make the new PQM approach the norm when tendering our GP clinics in our HDB heartlands,” he added. “It will be a meaningful shift, both in improving primary care, and ensuring greater affordability.”

Dr Hisham Badaruddin, whose LinkedIn post on the Tampines clinic last week went viral, told The Business Times that the S$52,188 bid was “not normal”. 

He said: “We should nip this in the bud and not encourage this, or else landlords will expect similar rents.” 

“Having a PQM tender will help address the needs of patients with chronic diseases, although this may limit the playing field for clinics.” 

Dr Lim Kai Hung, a GP who co-founded 57 Medical Clinic, said that rents for most GPs in the heartland range from S$3,500 to S$7,000 a month, depending on the size, location and footfall. However, he has heard of clinics in dense housing estates such as Punggol commanding rents above S$20,000. 

“Most GPs would make S$350,000 to S$500,000 a year in revenue. If a clinic is paying S$50,000 a month, they would likely operate at a loss. It is not sustainable.”