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SINGAPORE: The new general hospital in Jurong will be located in Jurong East, within walking distance from the Jurong East MRT station and bus interchange, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced after a ministerial walkabout in Geylang Serai on Sunday.
The hospital, which is expected to open by 2015, will also be easily accessible via the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) and the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE).
The Jurong General Hospital will have 550 beds and will provide acute inpatient and outpatient care. It will also have a community hospital next to it.
Mr Khaw said this co-location arrangement follows the Changi General Hospital and the St Andrew's Community Hospital model, which has worked well.
He said: "As a rule, we try to learn from all past projects so that every new hospital is better than the previous one. This co-location with community hospital is something we find very useful. The main advantage is integration.
"Patients sometimes do develop complications and if (the hospitals) are physically linked, you could just push the patients over... Sometimes, you do not need to push a patient over, the doctor can pop over. This is the sort of integration with a stepdown care sector which I want, which we are focusing on over the next few years."
A hospital planning committee, led by National Healthcare Group CEO Lim Suet Wun, is looking into the details. The Health Ministry said it would wait for a "good time" – when construction costs have cooled down – to call for tenders for the hospital.
This development will form part of the larger Jurong Lake District plan to transform the Jurong East area into a mini-city with commercial, leisure and other amenities.
The Health Ministry has also reserved a few sites for more hospitals if there is a need for them.
Details of the Jurong Lake District plan are available at www.ura.gov.sg/MP2008/Jurong/.
- CNA/ac/so
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