|
Relocation to Bt Batok will meet need for more nursing homes there
REN Ci Nursing Home will move from Jalan Tan Tock Seng to Bukit Batok Street 51 in three years’ time, meeting a need for more nursing homes in the west.
Ren Ci’s new home will house at least 250 beds, an increase from its current 212 beds, which are fully occupied.
The lease on its current site in Jalan Tan Tock Seng expires in 2013. The site will be returned to the Singapore Land Authority for residential developments, the Ministry of Health (MOH) told The Straits Times.
Only the Ren Ci Nursing Home will move. Ren Ci Community Hospital will continue to operate from Irrawaddy Road nearby.
Ren Ci is one of two new nursing homes that will be built in the western part of the island. Both are slated for completion by 2013.
The second home will be located in Jurong West Street 91 but the operator has yet to be identified.
MOH will bear the full capital cost of both homes, which is estimated to be between $15 million and $20 million each. The ministry said the two locations were chosen because there were fewer nursing homes in the west compared to other regions.
There are 62 nursing homes in Singapore, but only seven are located in the west. The seven homes provide 1,193 beds, or 13 per cent of the total nursing home bed capacity.
The two homes are also part of the Government’s plans to expand nursing home capacity to meet rising demand as the population ages. Around 5,000 nursing home beds are expected to be added over the next decade.
Hong Kah GRC MP Ang Mong Seng welcomed the move.
The new Ren Ci home will be located in his Bukit Gombak division. About 11 per cent of the 41,293 residents in Bukit Gombak are above the age of 60.
MOH also said that by siting nursing homes in the heartland, it hoped to encourage more families to visit their elderly parents and relatives more often.
“The... proximity to the community will also facilitate volunteering opportunities and (part-time) employment at the nursing homes for heartlanders,” its
spokesman said.
Mr Ang said several elderly residents in Bukit Gombak had personally appealed to him for more nursing homes to be built in the area, so they could remain close to their families.
Mr Yee Chong Seng, 88, a Hillgrove Residents’ Committee member, helped his elderly neighbours convey their wishes to Mr Ang.
He said: “I am lucky because I have nine children to look after me. Many of my neighbours are worried about the future, when their children may be too busy to look after them.
“They don’t want to live in a nursing home that is far away because their children may not come to visit.”
Current Ren Ci patients who do not live near the west will have the option of moving to another nursing home. Ren Ci will work with the Agency for Integrated Care, a group that coordinates referrals to nursing homes receiving subsidies from MOH, to help those who opt not to move, to make alternative arrangements.
Mayor of South West District Amy Khor said that while it was unfortunate that family members who lived near Ren Ci’s current premises might be inconvenienced by the move, Singaporeans stood to benefit in the long term.
“In the larger scheme of things, the idea is to spread out the nursing homes so that every district will have an adequate number. In the future, it will be easier to find a home near to where you live. Even if it is not Ren Ci, there will be another nursing home nearby,” she said.
Mr Ang lauded MOH for planning ahead. “It’s time to start preparing for our ageing population. I tell my residents that some day they may need a nursing home. We will provide it first so that when they need it, it’s there.”
|