Community health centre for Ang Mo Kio

A SEVENTH Community Health Centre (CHC) will be set up to serve Ang Mo Kio residents from May, the Agency for Integrated Care announced yesterday.

Based at Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital, the centre will help local residents with chronic conditions, said Wong Kirk Chuan, the agency's deputy chief executive. Further details will be given when the centre is launched, he added.

The six other CHCs, at Jurong East, Tiong Bahru, Bedok North, Bedok South, Tampines and the National Healthcare Group Mobile CHC, serve over 14,000 people.

They offer services such as diabetic foot screening, physiotherapy and nurse counselling, and support the general practitioners.

Eligible patients can receive subsidies under the Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas), which reduces payments for pioneers and low-to-middle-income Singaporeans at more than 1,500 participating GPs and dental clinics.

A total of $167 million in subsidies was given out under the scheme last year, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said yesterday.

This was more than six times the $25 million in subsidies that beneficiaries received in 2013.

Some 650,000 Singaporeans were helped by the scheme last year, or nearly half of around 1.4 million eligible Chas or Pioneer Generation card holders.

The number of chronic patients covered by Chas who sought care at Chas GPs rose to 160,000 last year, up from 107,000 in 2014.

Get MyPaper for more stories.