On 2 June, The Online Citizen (TOC) reported that the 18 polyclinics in Singapore had increased its general consultation fees. (See here: “Polyclinics up consultation fees from 1 July“.)
However, the two healthcare service providers who run the polyclinics have declined to provide details of the increases.
In a report in the Straits Times on 9 July, it said that “neither Singhealth nor the National Healthcare Group (NHG)… was willing to to disclose exactly by how much fees have increased.”
TOC had in its report said that the two groups had updated their websites with the new charges.
They, however, made no public announcements of this.
Nonetheless, TOC observed that over at Singhealth polyclinics, consultation fees have been raised between $0.40 and $2.90. For Singaporean adults, it is up by $0.80 cents – from $11.00 to $11.80, while that for Singaporean adults at NHG polyclinics are up $0.60, from $11.30 to $11.90.
The NHG did inform the Straits Times that it had raised fees in April, while Singhealth did so in June.
“When the Straits Times visited one polyclinic from each group, no signs were seen to indicate that consultation fees had gone up,” the newspaper said in its report on Thursday.
It also reported that a representative from NHG saying that it had “revised” its fees “to manage rising operating costs such as utilities, infrastructure, equipment upgrades and inflation.”
Nonetheless, it assured patients that prices would remain “affordable”.
“We are committed to ensuring that the total bill continues to be affordable for our patients,” said Singhealth Polyclinics chief operating officer, Luna Lee.
In the meantime, it is unclear why the two operators would decline to publicly announce or reveal details of the the increase in fees.
