THE private medical sector is set to grow with the Government releasing land to build more private hospitals, medical suites and other supporting services.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday identified four possible plots: three near existing public hospitals and a fourth in the north, which would cater to Malaysian patients.
Speaking to reporters at the start of a medical travel conference yesterday, Mr Khaw said land would be opened up in response to feedback from the private health-care sector.
It has indicated that it needs more medical facilities to cope with the 20 per cent annual growth in foreign patients. Singapore is targeting one million foreign patients a year by 2012, up from 400,000 last year.
Mr Khaw is proposing sites near public hospitals, where facilities can cluster for greater synergies, he said.
One site is the land adjoining Novena MRT station near Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
He said: 'There is a huge public hospital, the communicable disease centre is being rebuilt, the MRT is next door, a private medical centre is coming up, and there was a recent tender for a hotel, an essential part of medical travel.'
Another possible plot is within the Outram campus housing the Singapore General Hospital and the cancer, heart, eye and dental centres. The plot ratio of this 'sizeable piece of real estate' should go up from the current 1.8 to at least 4, said the minister.
The third is near the National University Hospital, which has also been asked to raise its plot ratio.
Mr Khaw's announcement was greeted positively by private players attending the opening of the first International Medical Travel Conference yesterday.
Mrs Tan-Hoong Chu Eng, who heads Parkway Group's corporate marketing, anticipates the need for another 2,000 private beds over the next decade, a 20 per cent increase from the 10,000 today.
She welcomed the proposal for a private hospital in the north. Malaysians account for 9 per cent of patients at Parkway's three hospitals: Mount Elizabeth, Gleneagles and East Shore.
'We may even be able to convert a block of HDB flats into serviced apartments for patients' families,' she said.
Another private player, Raffles Hospital, might consider the Novena and Outram sites, 'close to the hotel and shopping belt', said the hospital's general manager of business development, Dr Prem Kumar Nair.
He said that Raffles would focus on building medical centres for day surgery. The hospital is converting some of its unopened wards into new specialty centres like aesthetics.
More than 1.3 million people travel to or within Asia for medical care each year. One study projects their spending to hit $7 billion a year in five years' time. Mr Khaw said this was conservative, given the growing middle class in China and India.
'These are sleeping giants. If we can penetrate these markets, then we will see many more patients,' he said.
But he added: 'We push Singapore medicine, not solely for the purpose of attracting foreign patients. We do this for the good of our own Singapore patients.'
He said doctors here may not have enough experience treating less common diseases, such as childhood leukaemia, if they were limited to treating local children.
It is not simply hardware and infrastructure which needs to be built up, Mr Khaw said.
Pointing to the ministry's recent efforts to recognise more foreign medical schools, recruit more foreign doctors and train more people locally, he admitted: 'We are trying to catch up on things which we unfortunately have not done in the past.'
salma@sph.com.sg
Clustering health services
Four sites have been identified for private hospitals. They are:
The land adjoining Novena MRT station near Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Land within the Outram campus, which houses Singapore General Hospital and the cancer, heart, eye and dental centres. The land near National University Hospital, which has been told to raise its plot ratio. Site in the north to cater to Malaysian patients. 
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