XIAMEN - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday (Sept 21) visited the first polyclinic jointly set up by Singapore and China, the Fujian (Xiamen)-Singapore Friendship Polyclinic.
Mr Lee was briefed on the facility's set-up and saw some patients undergoing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment like the cupping therapy at the TCM clinic.
PM Lee is in Xiamen city, Fujian province, on the second and final leg of his three-day China visit.
Set up in 2011, the facility is modelled on Singapore polyclinics and was built with nearly 10 million yuan (S$1.9 million) of funds jointly raised by Singaporeans and the Xiamen municipal government, which also granted 2,000 sq m of land for the building.
Donations came from Singaporeans who live and work in Xiamen as well as organisations such as the Singapore Chamber of Commerce & Industry in China, the Lee Foundation, United Overseas Bank and the Khoo Teck Puat Foundation.
Renowned Singapore architect Liu Thai Ker designed the polyclinic for free while the Temasek Foundation donated $650,000 to fund a staff training programme.
The polyclinic was set up to support China's push to improve public healthcare. China has made reforming its beleaguered health-care system a top national priority.
Parliamentary Secretary Amrin Amin, who is a member of PM's delegation to China, said in a Facebook post that the polyclinic has a special line for Singaporeans.
Earlier on Thursday, PM Lee attended a ceremony to unveil a reconstructed OCBC building in Xiamen and met Fujian Party Secretary You Quan.
Accompanying PM Lee are Mrs Lee, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Chan Chun Sing and Parliamentary Secretary Amrin.
The coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian province hosted the 9th Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit earlier this month (Sept).
Fujian, with a population of nearly 39 million people, is expected to take the lead in boosting trade links after being named "the core area" of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The south-eastern coastal province, which is the ancestral home of 12.5 million overseas Chinese in Asean, has been assigned by Beijing to focus on Asean countries.
Mr Lee met Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese officials before travelling to Xiamen on Wednesday night.
PM Lee and President Xi agreed in their meeting on Wednesday to continue working closely to promote even stronger Asean- China ties under Singapore's coordinatorship of Asean-China dialogue relations and as Singapore assumes the role of Asean chair next year.
