History

Our Group was founded in 1987 with the setting up of our first nursing home at 134, Lorong J, Telok Kurau through a sole proprietorship of our founder, Mr Ong Chu Poh, Econ Nursing Home. Prior to establishing Econ Nursing Home, Mr Ong Chu Poh had already been actively involved in community work for several years and identified a growing demand for quality nursing care for the ageing population in Singapore.

Our first nursing home had a capacity for 21 residents in a tidy, clean, spacious and well-ventilated environment with qualified staff to provide nursing care and attention to our residents. Following the success of this nursing home, a second nursing home with a capacity for approximately 50 residents was established at 89 Lorong H, Telok Kurau in April 1989. By the third quarter of 1989, both homes were operating at almost full capacity.

With the increase in demand for our nursing home services and consequently the need for larger premises, we shifted from 89, Lorong H, Telok Kurau to 16 Bukit Timah Avenue in the first half of 1990. The new premises had a capacity for approximately 100 residents.

With the expansion of our business, new premises were also purchased by Econ Medical Centre Holdings (EMCH) Pte Ltd in 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1997. Nursing homes were set up at these new premises at 25 Recreation Road, 1/1A/3/3A Pulasan Road, 452 Upper East Coast Road and 53 Choa Chu Kang Road respectively and operated by Econ Nursing Home. In 1996, Econ Nursing Home also acquired Sunnyville which operated a nursing home at 10 Ama Keng Road.

Since 1997, Econ Nursing Home has been appointed by Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) to manage and operate an extension ward which is a transit point for patients who are due for discharge to nursing homes or return to their homes.

A secondary service which Econ Nursing Home has been providing since 1993 is the operation of a nonemergency ambulance service for the residents of our nursing homes. In 1997, this operation was taken over by Econ Ambulance which now also offers non-emergency ambulance services to the public for a fee.

In order to improve the quality of our nursing services, we decided to operate medicare centres and accordingly established Econ Medicare in 1999. We demolished the existing building and rebuilt a purpose-built medicare centre at 452 Upper East Coast Road. This medicare centre commenced operations under Econ Medicare in October 2000.

Our founder, Mr Ong Chu Poh, was one of the top ten finalists for the 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year Award organised jointly by The Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and The Rotary Club of Singapore.