Around 400 needy residents in Tanjong Pagar and Kreta Ayer will receive free health checks at the newest clinic by healthcare provider Sata CommHealth from now until the end of the year.

The Tanjong Pagar clinic, which was officially opened yesterday by Senior Minister of State for Law and Education, Ms Indranee Rajah, is Sata's sixth.

Eligible residents, identified by the Kreta Ayer and Tanjong Pagar citizens consultative committees, can get a range of screenings, including blood pressure, uric acid, kidney and liver function and cholesterol levels. Each health screening package is worth about $75, and the checks would have cost at least $30,000 in total.

Ms Indranee received a symbolic voucher on behalf of the Tanjong Pagar constituency at yesterday's launch. A similar voucher was presented to representatives of the Kreta Ayer committee last night at Sata's annual dinner celebrating its 68th anniversary.

The dinner was attended by guest of honour Hawazi Daipi, outgoing senior parliamentary secretary for education and manpower.

The chairman of Sata, Mr Ang Hao Yao, called the new clinic a homecoming of sorts, as Tanjong Pagar was where its first clinic was established in 1948.

Sata was established in 1947 as the Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association to combat tuberculosis during the post-war years.

It later expanded its outpatient services to treat heart disease and eventually became a provider of statutory health screening and primary healthcare services.