Orchard Road, medical haven

Orchard Road, medical haven

ORCHARD Road is renowned as a shoppers' paradise, but few know that it is fast turning into a magnet for medical services too.

By next year, the glitzy shopping belt and its surrounding areas, such as those along Tanglin and Napier roads, will become home to at least seven private medical centres.

Since the middle of last year, two private health-care providers have started or are making plans to open medical centres in the vicinity.

In May last year, Healthway Medical opened two clinics specialising in orthodontics and plastic surgery respectively at TripleOne Somerset shopping mall in Somerset Road. It has since taken the total to six clinics, spanning 25,000 sq m of the mall.

In addition, it also has clinics at Mount Elizabeth in Orchard Road and Gleneagles in Napier Road. Earlier in February, Raffles Medical Group announced plans to set up a specialist centre in Thong Sia Building in Bideford Road when existing tenancies expire next year and in 2013.

Aside from Healthway and Raffles, the other five medical providers operating in the Orchard area are: Paragon Medical, a stand-alone centre that is housed in Paragon; Orchard Medical Specialists Centre at Lucky Plaza; Mount Elizabeth located behind Paragon; Gleneagles in Napier Road; and Camden Medical Centre in Orchard Boulevard.

Healthway and Raffles provide medical services, while Paragon, Camden and Orchard Medical Specialists are landlords leasing space to medical specialists and clinics.

The remaining two Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth comprise clinics owned and operated by independent specialists. Competition is stiff, but industry players think there is enough business to go around.

~News courtesy of Omy~