They will get a letter from the Health Promotion Board from next month informing them of the clinics near them where they can get screened.

Women will have one additional test - pap smear to check for cervical cancer.

Measures will also be put in place to ensure that there is a follow-up to the screening, if the result is abnormal.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced these new initiatives on Friday morning in his opening address to the Singapore Disease Management Conference and 1st International Conference on Healthcare Transformation.

The systematic health screening is part of the Health Ministry's plans to encourage Singaproeans to have their own family physicians, with a long-term relationship, and to include GPs in more mainstream health services.

Mr Khaw also announced that GPs will also be able to treat the elderly with chronic ailments - at subsidised rates, with the ministry making up the difference.

This is an extension of the primary care partnership scheme in which 19,000 poor elderly can get treatment for acute problems like fever or flu, from GPs at only $4 for consultation and 70 cents for a week's supply of one medicine.

Mr Khaw said that Singaporeans are well served by the current distribution of 7,400 doctors, of whom 2,500 are in primary healthcare.

To manage chronic diseases well, he said GPs and polyclinics must work together as a team, complementing each other's strengths.

But he noted that some GPs have complained that they are losing their patients to polyclinics with better facilities and subsidised medications.

The Minister also highlighted the 'disproportionate' share of chronic diseases - 43 per cent of primary care visits - which polyclinics have to handle.

'This is way above our market share of the primary healthcare sector. We are addressing this imbalance.'