By Jessica Jaganathan

AS A growing number of Singaporeans head to emergency departments for non-life threatening conditions, the country's 24-hour clinics are seeing a major drop in business.

Nearly 24 of these medical centres have stopped offering round-the-clock services in the past eight years, while those still around have seen patient numbers plummet.

'It's difficult to run a 24-hour clinic,' said Dr Robert Ong, director of Central Clinic and Surgery Group, which has ceased 24-hour operations at five of its eight round-the-clock clinics in the past six years.

Packed hospital ERs

By Judith Tan & Seow Kai Lun

SINGAPORE'S emergency rooms handled a record number of patients during the first half of this year, most of whom suffered from relatively minor ailments such as fevers, sprains and headaches, according to new statistics.

The torrent of non-emergency patients drives up waiting times, say health officials, and has left the Government and hospitals searching for ways to lessen the burden on emergency departments.

A record 398,167 patients sought treatment at the emergency departments of the country's six public hospitals between January and June - a 5 per cent jump over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH). This is the highest tally since 1970.

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