SINGAPORE - A new extension at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) has opened up the volume and scope of services from the departments of psychological medicine and dermatology.
These two departments now have clinics that are twice as large as before, enabling them to have 30 per cent more appointments a year.
There will also be a pharmacy in the extension, which was launched on Wednesday (April 20).
Associate Professor Mark Koh, head and senior consultant at KKH's department of dermatology, said: "Besides having more clinic rooms and dermatology procedure rooms, we can now offer comprehensive pharmacy counselling to our women and children patients with chronic skin conditions, especially atopic dermatitis, to help them better understand their treatment plans."
He added that the new clinics are also equipped to manage complex conditions, including genetic skin diseases, vascular anomalies and severe, chronic eczema.
KKH also expects the extension to benefit the psychological department's patients.
Associate Professor Helen Chen, head and senior consultant at KKH's department of psychological medicine, said: "The mental health needs of women and children are very much linked.
"Being able to provide continued care to these two groups in the same setting is indeed beneficial."
She added that the expanded facilities can provide better clinical and support programmes to women and children in different life phases across the spectrum of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, psychosomatic and psychotic disorders, and neuro-developmental disorders.
She said the soothing ambience at the extension can also provide a conducive and calming environment for patients.
KKH added that the clinics had been seeing 24,000 consultations a year before the opening of the extension.
The extension is called KKH@Halifax and is at a heritage site in Halifax Road, 450m from the hospital's main buildings in the Rochor area.
Comprising two colonial buildings originally built in the 1930s, the extension once served as quarters and outhouses for accommodation of the Singapore Municipal staff and their families.
In the 1950s, they became offices and stores for the electrical and architect departments of the Singapore City Council.
KKH said its renovation of the buildings - which have elements of the colonial black-and-white architectural style - preserves their heritage.
The new clinics retain some of the original tiling, lattice windows and exposed tiles, which sit alongside the modern clinical facilities, said KKH.
The buildings were unoccupied and managed by the Singapore Land Authority before they were handed over to KKH in November 2019.
Renovations began that year, and operations at the clinics started in December last year.
The extension is designed to meet modern sustainability requirements and has received the BCA Green Mark Platinum Award, the highest sustainability rating for non-residential buildings from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).
