Private GP or polyclinic in Singapore: what a foreigner should choose

You wake up with a fever or a cough that will not go away, and you are on a work pass. Do you go to the polyclinic everyone says is cheaper, or to a private GP? This page is for that decision. It is written for people who are not citizens or PRs, because for them the standard local advice points the wrong way.

Before you read. This is personal experience and opinion, not medical advice. Fees and waiting times change and clinics set their own prices, so the figures below are a guide to scale, not a quote. If you are seriously unwell, call 995.

The short answer

For an ordinary illness, a private GP is what I would use, and what I tell newcomers to use. The reason is not that GPs are cheap everywhere. It is that polyclinics are cheap for people who qualify for the subsidy, and you do not.

At a polyclinic, a non-resident pays the unsubsidised fee. At the three polyclinic groups the adult consultation at a general clinic is roughly S$84 to S$90 (SingHealth S$90.36, NHG S$88.40, NUP S$83.71, checked on 9 November 2026), before medicine or tests. The full breakdown is in polyclinic fees for foreigners, and I will not repeat it here.

GP clinics set their own fees and there is no official price list I could find. As a guide to scale, Raffles Medical’s airport clinic publishes daytime weekday consultations from S$31.61, and a secondary source puts a large 24-hour chain at around S$28 to S$30 by day. Those are consultation-only prices. Medicine, tests and procedures are extra.

So the question is not which option is subsidised. It is which one is better value for you, and for most everyday problems a GP is.

What about speed?

The official numbers are less one-sided than the advice people give. MOH reports that in 2025 the median wait for a polyclinic doctor consultation, for walk-in patients, was 8 minutes, and the 95th percentile was 72 minutes. That means most people were seen quickly, but about one in twenty waited over an hour. These figures cover the wait for the doctor, not the time at the registration counter, and MOH says it does not track peaks and off-peaks separately. Its figure for February 2023 was much worse, a median of 17 minutes and a 95th percentile of 164 minutes, so it moves.

SingHealth says its clinics run on an appointment system, that waits may be long, and that you should book. Same-day slots on the HealthHub app open at 10pm the night before, except on Sundays and public holidays. I found no official waiting-time figure for private GP clinics, so I cannot give you one.

What I can give you is my own view: with a GP you can usually walk in, be seen without booking and leave with medicine in hand, which is why I start there. That is experience, not a statistic.

When a polyclinic is still the right choice

The usual reasons people give for choosing a polyclinic mostly do not apply to you. A subsidised referral to a public specialist is the biggest one, and it is gone: at the public hospital I checked, foreign residents and non-residents are classed as private patients, and the subsidised class is for citizens and PRs who are referred. Healthier SG is the same. MOH has said foreigners are not eligible for its subsidies.

That leaves a smaller set of reasons:

A service the polyclinic offers that your GP does not. SingHealth lists screening for colorectal, breast and cervical cancers, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. Ask what a non-resident pays before you book, because the fee page only gives consultation, dental and report fees.
You already have records there, or you want your care in one place with its labs and pharmacy.
A video consultation for a follow-up, if the polyclinic group you use offers one.

None of these is a reason to go for a cough.

What you give up going private

A fixed, published price. You will often need to ask, and fees can differ clinic to clinic. Phone ahead or ask at registration.
Cheaper hours. Many 24-hour clinics use tiers. Raffles’ airport clinic lists weekday consultations from S$31.61 in the daytime, from S$45.78 from 6pm to midnight, and from S$89.38 from midnight to 8am, plus a separate “practice costs” line that the page does not explain. Ask whether it is added.
A path into the public system. If your GP refers you to a public hospital specialist, you are a private patient there whichever way you came. See healthcare for foreigners for how specialist costs work.
Everything in one record. If you move between clinics, keep your own copies of results and prescriptions.

If you wake up unwell on a work pass

Is it an emergency? Chest pain, difficulty breathing or serious injury is 995 or A&E, not a GP.
Otherwise, go to a GP near home or work. In the daytime that is the cheapest and simplest option. At night, a 24-hour clinic is the realistic choice, at the higher night tier.
Ask the fee before you are seen. It takes ten seconds and avoids a surprise.
Ask for a medical certificate if you need one, and keep the receipt.
Tell your employer promptly, and find out how your company handles clinic visits. This varies a lot, and it changes which clinic is best for you. In my experience, larger employers (semiconductor firms and corporates, for example) usually provide managed healthcare cover with a list of GP and polyclinic clinics you can visit without paying at the counter. Some mid-sized and smaller companies instead give a fixed amount per visit, such as S$20 or S$30, up to a yearly cap. Others cover nothing for outpatient visits at all. So before you pick a clinic, check whether yours is on your company’s list or whether a per-visit allowance applies. A clinic that is “cheaper” on paper can cost more if it is off the list. MOM’s page on sick leave sets a baseline: an employer must pay the consultation fee when the certificate comes from a doctor at a public medical institution or one the company appoints, the visit results in at least one day of paid sick leave, and the employee has worked for at least three months. That page does not say whether a private GP you chose yourself qualifies, nor whether it applies to every work pass holder, so ask HR rather than assuming.

Know what your insurance covers. For S Pass and Work Permit holders, MOM says the employer must buy at least S$15,000 a year of cover for inpatient and day surgery bills. The page does not say it covers outpatient visits, so do not assume a GP visit is covered. If you are on an Employment Pass, check your policy.

A rule of thumb

Use a GP for coughs, fevers, stomach bugs, skin problems and certificates. Use A&E for emergencies. Use a polyclinic only when there is a specific service you want from it. And if you are unsure what something will cost, ask before you are seen.