CORRECTING SIGHT: Laser alignment being done on a patient's eye to reshape the cornea. Shinagawa Lasik Centre at Wheelock Place charges $2,388 for Lasik on both eyes. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM

Shinagawa Lasik Centre opened its doors at Wheelock Place last month. Shinagawa, which has three centres and 435 staff members in Japan, owns about 25 per cent of the sprawling centre. Local chain Capitol Optical owns 50 per cent and rest is held by SNEC Eye Associates, the private arm of the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC). This is Shinagawa's first project outside Japan.

The centre hopes to tap into the burgeoning market for Lasik surgery. While there are no industry-wide figures available, public hospitals did more than 6,000 operations in 2006. Two large private clinics here claim that together, they perform about 2,100 procedures each month. And The New Paper reported recently that one doctor alone operated on 10,000 eyes last year.

At 6,000 sq ft, five times the size of a five-room HDB flat, the Wheelock Place centre is equipped with four operating theatres, six consultation rooms and two diagnostic and preparation rooms.

The $4 million facility will focus on a bladeless, all-laser operation and charges $2,388 for both eyes.

'Singapore is the best place for a medical hub in the Asian market,' said director of Shinagawa Lasik Centre Jun Torihata.

Currently headed by Dr Lee Sao Bing, previously a cornea specialist at National University Hospital, the centre will also have four visiting consultants from the SNEC.

This is the second foray into the private sector for the SNEC, the state-run facility that offers treatment of various eye conditions and is actively involved in research.

In 2001, it opened a Lasik clinic at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. The idea of having government doctors practise part time in private clinics was part of a plan mooted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 2000. Under this plan, government doctors can spend up to two days a week working in the private sector.

SNEC senior consultant and head of refractive surgery Chan Wing Kwong said the new centre will not distract it from its core service in the public sector.

'We see this as the same but separate business,' said Dr Chan. 'This is an opportunity to expand the Lasik pie for Singapore and everyone else.'

Dr Adrian Koh, president of the Singapore Society of Ophthalmology, welcomed competition in Lasik centres in Singapore and said this will contribute to 'better service and lower cost'.

Said Dr Koh: 'It will stop patients from going overseas to seek services at a lower cost.' But he was quick to caution that operations are not risk-free and patients should do their research.

With the sizzling market for Lasik surgery come complaints of shoddy service, even worse eyesight and inadequate before- and after-care.

Last year, a patient filed a report with the Singapore Medical Council against a doctor who operated on her. She claimed clinic assistants pronounced her fit for surgery, and the doctor did only a summary examination before the procedure.

The United States Food and Drug Administration plans to launch a national study assessing the rate of side effects among Lasik patients. This was after hours of testimony by some Lasik patients who said blurriness, double vision and other problems led to depression and, in some cases, suicidal tendencies.

A 2006 MOH study released last year put the success rate of Lasik procedures at more than 98 per cent, although it warns that complications can occur.

jessicaj@sph.com.sg