New facility to boost Singapore medical tourism

3-Mar-2007

Plans to convert a floor of a Singapore shopping mall into a high-tech private healthcare facility are the result of a growing demand for medical tourism provision.

The Lucky Plaza will be transformed into space for the Orchard Medical Specialists Centre and doctors will take over the floor previously occupied by retailer Metro, reports Channelnewsasia.

Built in 1981, the Lucky Plaza is well placed to capitalise on the growing number of patients seeking treatment abroad and it is expected that demand for the new facility will remain high, with rental prices for suites set to reach record levels.

Charles Ng, director of retail at Knight Frank, said: "I attribute it to firstly a big demand. I think medical tourism has been catching up very fast in Singapore and also, supply. There is really a shortage of medical space. So you can see a lot of office suites being converted to medical suites too."

In recent years, the booming medical tourism sector has lead to the conversion of office spaces to medical suites in a range of buildings in the area, including the Paragon Shopping Centre and Ngee Ann City, with Singapore hoping to attract around one million medical tourists within the next six years.