A $1 MILLION centre to help people with weight and exercise problems has been set up at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

The Lifestyle Improvement and Fitness Enhancement (Life) Centre, which was officially opened on Monday by Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, teaches those with obesity and eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, how to eat and exercise healthily.

It also helps those who do not have weight problems, but who need help with exercise and diet, like the elderly and osteoporosis patients.

Patients are assessed by doctors, who refer them to physiotherapists, dieticians, psychologists, medical social workers and occupational therapists, if necessary.

Previously, SGH already had obesity and eating disorder programmes, but they were not integrated under one roof, said the Life Centre's director, Dr Celia Tan, the hospital's senior principal physiotherapist.

With the centre, patients no longer need to go to different parts of the hospital to see the different health-care professionals. They just go to the centre, which tries to schedule all their appointments with the different health-care professionals on the same day, Dr Tan said.

The centre has a gym run by physiotherapists, who prescribe exercises tailored to each patient. It even has a kitchen where dieticians teach patients healthy cooking.