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Jul 24, 2010
Full house at new hospital
But it means more room at other hospitals
<!-- by line -->By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
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Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) opened its emergency department, its CEO expected just 30 patients to walk through. Instead, more than 100 came, and the numbers are going up by 15 per cent every week. -- PHOTO: MY PAPER
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ON JUNE 28 when the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) opened its emergency department, its CEO expected just 30 patients to walk through. Instead, more than 100 came, and the numbers are going up by 15 per cent every week.
For most of last week, all its 200 beds were fully occupied, said Mr Liak Teng Kit, describing how the bed-demand 'was close to the worst case scenario'.
But the team at the new hospital in Yishun was prepared for the load which, more importantly, has helped to ease the squeeze at other public hospitals.
The bed crunch has been so bad in the last couple of years that non-urgent surgeries had to be put off, beds placed along corridors and hours spent waiting for an empty bed.
Touring the premises on Saturday with his Brunei counterpart and health officials from the region, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the workload at KTPH already exceeded that of Alexandra Hospital, from which it drew its doctors and nurses.
KPTH sees about 200 patients at the emergency department and almost 800 at its specialist clinics each day.
Read the full story in The Sunday Times.
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Full house at new hospital
But it means more room at other hospitals
<!-- by line -->By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->

<!-- story content : start -->
ON JUNE 28 when the new Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) opened its emergency department, its CEO expected just 30 patients to walk through. Instead, more than 100 came, and the numbers are going up by 15 per cent every week.
For most of last week, all its 200 beds were fully occupied, said Mr Liak Teng Kit, describing how the bed-demand 'was close to the worst case scenario'.
But the team at the new hospital in Yishun was prepared for the load which, more importantly, has helped to ease the squeeze at other public hospitals.
The bed crunch has been so bad in the last couple of years that non-urgent surgeries had to be put off, beds placed along corridors and hours spent waiting for an empty bed.
Touring the premises on Saturday with his Brunei counterpart and health officials from the region, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the workload at KTPH already exceeded that of Alexandra Hospital, from which it drew its doctors and nurses.
KPTH sees about 200 patients at the emergency department and almost 800 at its specialist clinics each day.
Read the full story in The Sunday Times.
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