There is no doubt that cost is a big factor in determining if chiropractic treatment is suitable for you. As a consumer, I am also price-sensitive and price comparison is something that I do prior to any major purchase. Today, we will discuss the cost of chiropractic treatment in Singapore from a commercial rent perspective.
$52K/month rental for Tampines clinic
One of the topics that is trending on social media now is the $52k per month rental of a medical clinic in Tampines. This is rental for a HDB property at Tampines Street 96, which is at a new BTO area. According to BTO HQ, there are 1070 units in Tampines GreenOpal and the estimated TOP date is 1 June 2025.
This is obscene …
$52K per month rental for a clinic in a HDB area?
Madness …
And what will MOH say? I bet they will say rental in private sector is out of their purview …
The original post was by Hisham Badaruddin on LinkedIn. In his post, he shared the successful tender of for the clinic at a rental of $52,188 by Lum Sian Wei Shaun.
For perspective, Shaun outbidded Healthway Medical Group which owns/operates (?) over 50 clinics in Singapore! Based on Shaun Lum‘s LinkedIn profile, and a news article from April, it is possible the clinic is for I-Health clinics. They own four general practitioner clinics at Bendemeer, Yishun, Serangoon, with a Tampines clinic opening in July. Based on their investor fundraising, I-Health is valued at $7 million.
How can a clinic afford $52K/month in rental?
Needless to say, Singaporeans are shocked at the rental. Some medical professionals are appalled. In the LinkedIn post discussion, a doctor suggested that it could be an aesthetic practice. Many are questioning how the clinic is going to stay profitable.
This is a good time to highlight that healthcare businesses are not charity and they do indeed churn profits. For example, Raffles Medical Group net profit was $143.5 million in 2022.
It is unclear what their business model will be. Commenters, however, have seem to align in that they will need charge patients more to stay in business. Some suggested that the clinic will likely be charging upwards of $100.
The Google reviews of existing I-Health clinics do show that they do need charge over $100. However, it is unclear what services were rendered and, therefore, not possible to tell if their fees are reasonable. Several reviews also indicated using insurance for payment.
TCM clinics are not spared
TCM Physician Tan Yuan Ming posted a TikTok about his rental experience yesterday. This was his second attempt after failing to get a rental for his clinic in March this year. According to his TikTok, the start bid for the unit was $3,700 but the winning bid, from Q & M Dental Centre, was $14,000. This was for a 49 square metre unit.
Yuan Ming is the founder of TCM Folks, which does house calls. They don’t currently have a physical clinic. Given the rental market, it is not surprising that he is repeatedly price out. As a solopreneur (I think), it is difficult for him to compete in capital availability and patient volume (i.e., cash flow) with bigger businesses like Q & M.
Ultimately, the rental system needs to change, at least for HDB properties, for one-practitioner businesses like Yuan Ming (and myself) to have a chance at commercial viability. Let’s not even talk success.
What does healthcare costs look like in a free market?
Singapore is a free market economy. In fact, Singapore ranked first in economic freedom in the world. The main premise of a free market is that buyers and sellers are allowed to do whatever they want with little to no government regulation. Specific to price and rental, you are free to charge patients whatever you want as long as your patients are happy to pay.
It’s a slippery slope because high prices can put upward pressure on price. This is very clear in the property market. In Singapore, cooling measures are implemented to keep property prices under control. Last week, the government hinted at potentially removing the 15-month wait-out period imposed on private property owners should property prices continue to “moderate”.
Unfortunately, no such policies apply to healthcare in Singapore. Not entirely surprising since medical tourism could contribute up to S$1 billion to the Singapore economy. Gotta keep the plays happy, perhaps?
Are healthcare service fees in Singapore regulated?
The short answer is no. In 2007, the Singapore Medical Association withdrew their fee guideline because their lawyers advised it could be anti-competitive. This is kinda sad. While SMA did acknowledge that price guideline is beneficial to the society at large, they did not seem successful at advocating for such a guideline to be implemented.
I mean, the law should work for the best interest of the people right?
Sure, there the Ministry of Health does release a Hospital Bills and Fee Benchmarks. However, outpatient fees and general practitioner fees doesn’t seem to be part of the benchmarks. Pity!
It is true that there is still regulation, but perhaps only for the crazy rich asians. In 2013. Susan Lim was found guilty of overcharging the Queen of Brunei’s sister. The fee was $24 million for half a year of breast cancer treatment. The final fee was S$12.1 million after discount.
Yes, regulation does exist but not for the everyday people.
Rental is a big problem in Singapore
The challenges surrounding rental in Singapore is not exactly news. In the food and beverage (F&B) sector, we see discussions around rent control or tenant protection. There were also talks of revenue-sharing rent, where landlords receiving a percentage of the tenant’s sales, instead of a fixed monthly rent.
Last year, the National Environment Agency announced new measures to control rent in NEA hawker stalls. Previously, monthly rental would be adjusted to market rate after three years. Under the new measure, a staggering approach would be implemented. This is to deter high bids for hawker stalls.
Earlier this year, NEA also reiterated that hawker stalls must be operated by stallholders and hawker stallholders must be physically present. This is to prevent subletting, which a NEA spokesperson specifically said, “drive up rental prices and food prices to the detriment of Singaporeans”.
I get that food and shelter is important and therefore price regulation is necessary for such areas. One could argue that as a first world country, health should be equally prioritised. This is especially evident as we discussions from lifespan move towards healthspan.
How much do chiropractors pay for rent in Singapore?
I am not at liberty to discuss how much other chiropractors paid for rent. Personally, the monthly rental for the last space was $12,000+. This is after some crazy negotiating.
The nearest chiropractic clinic to me is Compass Chiropractic at Hong Lim Complex (Upper Cross Street). Based on the available shop units on CommercialGuru, the rental is around $5,000. Not too bad but still substantial for a solo-practitioner. Furthermore, this is for a second floor unit and there is little foot traffic for most units there.
If we look at the heartlands with more foot traffic like Clementi, there are two chiropractic clinics, One Spine and Total Health Chiropractic, within walking distance. The asking rental in the area range from $10,000 for a 180 square feet unit to $30,000 for a 1,345 unit!
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