WE THANK Madam Jay Oh for her letter, "Too many patients at Choa Chu Kang Polyclinic?" (my paper, Oct 6).

National Healthcare Group (NHG) Polyclinics see a high volume of patients daily, with peak periods in the morning.

This results in an unequal distribution of patients. The practice of closing registration early occurs only when patient load in the morning exceeds the maximum capacity that can be safely attended to by our doctors.

It is very important to us that the quality of care is not compromised at the expense of seeing more patients quickly.

We continue to issue queue numbers after morning registration has closed, so that patients can return after 1.30pm.

This minimises unnecessary waiting at the clinic for patients.

However, those who require urgent medical attention will still be attended to immediately.

As the patient load varies from day to day, it is very difficult to predict with any certainty when this maximum capacity has been reached.

NHG Polyclinics has set up a Web camera that allows patients to view patient volume on its website before they make a visit.

We sincerely apologise to Madam Oh for the inadequate information and will look into improving our communication with our patients in future.

We wish her and her family the best of health.

Dr Yehudi Yeo Head Choa Chu Kang Polyclinic

For more my paper stories click here.