SINGAPORE - As he guided Yishun residents around the outpatient clinics of the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), chief executive Liak Teng Lit spelled out his guarantee to them.
"When you come to this hospital, your blood pressure and heart rate won't go up," he said.
The pieces are falling into place for KTPH, which opens its 11 Outpatient Specialist Clinics today. At its Open House yesterday, some of the details that go into providing seamless patient care were revealed.
For instance, the Diabetes and Geriatric Medicine clinics are next to the Ophthalmology clinic, as many elderly and diabetic patients also have eye problems.
Various healthcare professionals like podiatrists, dieticians and endocrinologists are housed in the Diabetes clinic to attend to the multiple conditions that come with the disease.
To create a soothing ambience, fruit trees and plants - including durian - are being grown in different parts of the hospital.
"The facilities are good. I learnt about the services available," said Yishun Street 72 resident Mdm Wee Lye Hua, 58, who had an ear screening done for $2 during her tour.
About 200 patients are expected at the outpatient clinics today - well within the average of 1,000 patients seen at Alexandra Hospital currently, said Mr Liak.
The 550-bed KTPH will open its inpatient wards and the emergency department from July.
The past fortnight, staff have been stress-testing the new system by simulating heart attacks and flushing all toilets at the same time, for instance.
The hospital has also hired 200 staff over and above its headcount of 2,300. This over-recruitment is because some existing staff may find the commute to Yishun "too much of a problem", said Mr Liak.
There has also been interest from doctors and nurses from other hospitals who live near Yishun.
KTPH is also energy efficient and is expected to consume 27 per cent less energy than other hospitals of comparable size - thanks to fewer air-conditioned areas, and solar panels the size of an Olympic-sized pool that will provide 3 per cent of its energy needs.
But patients in the non-airconditioned B2 and C Class wards will still enjoy good airflow, said Mr Liak.
The building's design was put through a wind tunnel to "make sure there's always a constant breeze", and the rooftop garden will reduce heatload.
Speaking to reporters after his tour, Nee Soon Central Member of Parliament Ong Ah Heng said that about 20 households had moved out due to the construction noise. "They were not resentful, but they just could not get used to the noise. Some of them had young children and babies," he said.
Residents' feedback has been good.
"They don't feel like they're coming to a hospital. They feel very comfortable," said Mr Ong.
[SOURCE: http://www.todayonline.com]
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