Download Queenstown Trail Booklet
The former Queenstown Polyclinic at Margaret Drive is Singapore’s first polyclinic. The polyclinic was officially opened on 13 January 1963 by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to provide access to subsidised healthcare for residents in Queenstown. The polyclinic combined an outpatient clinic, and a maternity and child health centre which offered domiciliary midwifery and immunisation services. A dental clinic, Oralgiene Dental Surgery, was added in 1984.
In 1986, Queenstown Polyclinic was expanded to incorporate more consultation rooms and centralise registration for both outpatient, and maternity and child health services. Lee Lai Koon (b.1946), a former resident at Mei Ling Street, recalled bringing her son for immunisation at the polyclinic.
“The fee for consulting a doctor was $2.50 a visit and 50 cents more for every item of medicine prescribed. Immunisation, which was free, was a popular service at the polyclinic. The nurses would also issue a blue book which recorded my son’s progress.”
The combined clinic’s spacious interiors and extensive greenery made it very popular among the staff and patients. Carol Wong Yoke Kwai (b.1952), a nurse at the polyclinic since 1999, recalled, “There was a two-storey tall durian tree behind room 18. We would often share the durians among ourselves every June or July.”
In December 2007, the polyclinic shifted to a new location in Stirling Road.
