Monday, May 10, 2010

Checking out Thong Chai Medical Institution

Singapore Thong Chai Medical Institution was apparently featured on Singapore television recently, with the result that it got my mum interested in trying out its services.

I thought I'd write about our experience, just to give an idea to anyone else who is thinking of seeing if the doctors there can help them out with their particular ailments.

THE SERVICES

According to its website, Singapore Thong Chai Medical Institution provides "free medical consultation and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to the public regardless of race, religion or nationality." In practice, the outpatient clinic provides (1) traditional herbal medicine (2) acupuncture.

GETTING THERE

If you're going by MRT, you can stop at Outram Park or Chinatown. We stopped at Outram Park MRT station, then took a taxi because my mother has difficulty walking any distance. Taxi fare was $4. Alternatively, take SBS Bus 174 from opposite Outram Park MRT. The bus stops very near Thong Chai Building.

THE PROCESS

Registration:

  • When you enter, you are given a queue number for registration. Patient has to be present at the clinic before a number is given.
  • First-time patients will need to bring identification - IC, passport or birth certificate (they have signs saying this is a requirement of the Singapore government). Basic details are entered into their computerised system, and a patient card is given to you.
  • You are then allocated to a doctor. What's also interesting is that you are allowed to request specific doctors. Waiting times for the more popular doctors can be quite a bit longer though, from what we understand from another patient there.
  • One thing to note: on any one day, you can only see either the doctor for herbal medicine, or the acupuncturist.
  • The waiting time for registration was over an hour when we were there to register as first-time patients, and about half an hour when we visited again a week later.

Consultation:

  • If you're familiar with traditional chinese medicine, then the procedure is pretty much the same at this clinic. The doctor talks to you to discover your symptoms, checks your pulse, then prescribes a formula tailored to your complaint(s).
  • Waiting time for the doctor can vary depending on the popularity of the doctor, as I mentioned in the section above. One patient waiting for the most popular doctor said that she had been waiting over 2 hours. In our case, it took under an hour.

Medicine:

  • While many traditional chinese medicine clinics nowadays provide medicines in powdered or liquid form, Thong Chai still does it the traditional way. You are given a combination of dried herbs, which you can see the staff weighing and wrapping up in red paper, just like what they do in a traditional chinese medicine shop. Preparation of the meidicine at home: three bowls of water to be added to the herbs, then boiled down to one bowl for the first day; two bowls of water boiled down to just under one bowl for the second day. (Be warned! Many chinese herbal concoctions are extremely bitter).
  • A printed copy of the prescription is also given to you, which gives you the option of purchasing the formula from a chinese medical hall convenient to you. You may also go back after two days for more medicine, but do note that you'll have to see the doctor first.
  • The two days that we went, it took 45 minutes to an hour for our prescriptions to be filled.

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