SINGAPORE - Senior citizens in the Beo Crescent area will have greater access to services such as counselling, job placement and befriending under two agreements signed on Friday (Aug 19).

Under one of the agreements - signed between Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities (THKMC) and the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) - residents of Beo Crescent, where a THK Active Ageing Centre is located, can access services such as tele-consultations and medication delivery.

The collaboration will give the organisation a "network of resources" to help seniors in Bukit Merah and Tiong Bahru, said SGH population health and integrated care office director Low Lian Leng.

Meanwhile, a separate agreement was signed between THKMC, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), Sage Counselling Centre and Tsao Foundation.

AIC will support the Beo Crescent centre via its Communities of Care initiative, which will give the centre resources needed to build partnerships with other organisations.

The agency will also refer seniors to the active ageing centre for services such as befriending and case management.

THKMC's collaboration with the Sage Counselling Centre will provide counselling to the elderly as well as their family members and caregivers, while Tsao Foundation will help seniors in areas such as job placements.

Witnessing the ceremony was Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who also toured the active ageing centre.

The Beo Crescent centre - appointed by the Ministry of Health and AIC as an active ageing centre last year - was chosen for Friday's initiatives due to the large number of seniors living in the vicinity.

THKMC chief operating officer Jason Lee said the collaborations were aimed at improving the experience of senior citizens in its centres.

"The seniors can look forward to ageing healthily and independently," he said.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, THKMC divisional director for elderly services Andy Lee said the new initiatives would benefit up to 300 people in the area, adding that he hoped for similar initiatives to be extended to its other centres.

"At the end of the day, we have to be a society that takes care of everybody," he said.