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SINGAPORE: The completion date for several public health facilities will be delayed due to the impact of COVID-19 on Singapore’s construction industry, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said in a written parliamentary response on Monday (October 5). ).
“These delays in the completion of our public health infrastructure projects may have an impact on overall short-term health care capacity,” said Mr. Gan.
“The MOH (Ministry of Health) is exploring other measures to expand capacity within our existing facilities and to reduce demand at our public health institutions,” he added, citing telemedicine and community care options as examples.
Gan was responding to questions from Member of Parliament Lim Wee Kiat, who asked about the progress in the development of the Woodlands Health Campus and whether it has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ: Construction demand will plummet this year after COVID-19 paralyzes projects
Woodlands Health Campus, which was scheduled to open progressively starting in 2022, is now scheduled to open starting in 2023, Gan said.
Similarly, the Tan Tock Seng Hospital Integrated Care Center and Singapore General Hospital Emergency Medicine Building are expected to open a year later, in 2023 and 2024 respectively, he added.
The new polyclinics in Eunos, Kallang and Bukit Panjang, which were originally planned for the end of the year, are expected to open in late 2021.
“As the COVID-19 situation is evolving and construction works are still phasing out, we can expect further changes to the timelines for the completion of our healthcare facilities,” he said.
READ: COVID-19: Construction projects could be delayed for months as contractors fear a labor shortage by eliminating backlog
All construction activities were suspended during the “breaker” period.
And while construction at healthcare development sites has gradually resumed, Gan noted that they “have not caught up to the pre-COVID rate,” as resumption of work must be done in a safe and controlled manner to minimize the risk of spread of the coronavirus.
“Based on our current assessment, these outages can result in delays of up to a year or so for many of our healthcare infrastructure projects,” he said.
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