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It was launched last February by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and Changi General Hospital (CGH).
The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding, which has since expired.
CGH chief executive officer T.K. Udairam yesterday confirmed the collaboration ended last month.
He said: 'We've called a halt for now until the SSC make up their mind how they're going to run the sports medicine service.
'It's taking too long. The SSC say they need time to work things out because of the Sports Hub... plus, the fact that they're going to have a sports institute.
'We felt it's going to become a bit of a drag, because we're spending our time negotiating rather than doing work and building up the sports medicine service.
'In the meantime, we'll continue to expand our sports medicine service.'
The Sports Hub, which will incorporate a stadium, multi-purpose indoor arena and an aquatic centre at Kallang, is expected to be completed in 2011.
SSC chief executive officer Oon Jin Teik said: 'The MOU expired a long time ago, but we're still continuing to work on it. We just need more time to adjust to it.'
The scheme was meant to allow athletes, as well as staff of the SSC's Sports Medicine Research Centre (SMRC), to leverage on Changi's comprehensive medical services.
A service level contract, containing details of the agreement, was supposed to have been signed last August.
But the SSC had repeatedly asked for extensions.
CGH, led by Dr Benedict Tan, head and consultant sports physician of the hospital's Changi Sports Medicine Centre, has done a review of SMRC's internal processes and made a comprehensive report.
Recommendations include changes to the organisational structure, proposed staffing to ensure adequate coverage, types of coverage for various multi-sport games, and suggestions on how to increase the professional education programmes for staff.
The report has since been handed to the council.
Changi's sports centre caters to recreational, elite and professional athletes. Its services include injury prevention, performance enhancement, exercise prescription and weight-loss programmes.
It has 22 staff, including five sports physicians, four physiotherapists and three sports trainers.
The SMRC has 30 staff, of which half are in the sports medicine division. Among them are three sports physicians, eight physiotherapists and two sports trainers.
Elite athletes under the SSC's carding scheme do not need to pay for treatment at the SMRC.
The collaboration was also meant to allow the 1,700 elite athletes to use Changi hospital's facilities for free.
It was also aimed at ensuring adequate sports medicine support for athletes.
So why was the collaboration halted?
'I think there was an impression that we were out to make money,' said Udairam. 'But, looking at SSC's budget at the moment, it's probably $2 million or $3 million at the most.
'At CGH, we're looking at $250 million. It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. We don't need to make money that way.'
Udairam added: 'For the SSC, it's a big issue because they are restructuring. It's a whole different mindset and arrangement system.
'To be fair to the SSC, it wasn't going to be easy.'
But Udairam said the door is still open.
'It all depends on the SSC now. If and when they're ready to discuss this, we're quite willing to discuss with them.'
