Singapore has one of the densest concentrations of registered Chinese medicine in the world — and one of the most opaque price structures. Two clinics three MRT stops apart can charge $8 and $200 for what a patient would describe the same way: a consultation and some needles.

So we did the boring part. We pulled the published 2026 fee tables off eight registered clinics' own websites, checked what promotions are actually live this week, and lined them up.

> Quick view: cheapest all year — Chung Hwa, ~$11 a visit · cheapest this month — Eu Yan Sang, $6.10 consultation, new *and* existing patients, all August · biggest network — Ma Kuang, 30+ locations, first trial from $38 · latest closing — PULSE, most clinics 11am–8pm daily.

August is genuinely the cheapest month to start

This is not a manufactured urgency line. Three of the eight have SG61-linked or August-dated offers running at once:

  • Eu Yan Sang — $6.10 for a TCM consultation, right across its 17 clinics, for new and existing patients, throughout August. Its own fee table puts a normal first consultation at $25–$60.
  • Ma Kuang — $61 off a 6-session package for first-timers plus a free gift, 1 August to 9 September 2026, on top of a standing first trial from $38 nett.
  • PULSE TCM — TCM Fertility Management Trial at $88 against a usual $200, until 31 August 2026.

If you have been meaning to try TCM and never got round to it, the marginal cost of finding out this month is close to nothing.

What you actually pay for

Almost every clinic prices in three separate layers, and the headline number is only the first one:

  1. The consultation — $8 at Chung Hwa, $25–$60 at Eu Yan Sang, $60–$250 at Oriental Remedies depending on physician seniority.
  2. The treatment — acupuncture roughly $40–$110 at Eu Yan Sang, $80–$200 at Oriental Remedies, from $87.20 at Thomson. Cupping, scraping and tuina sit lower.
  3. The herbs — nearly always extra. Eu Yan Sang adds an $8 dispensing fee with herbal medication from $11 a day; PULSE charges herbal medications separately unless the package is explicitly a herbal bundle.

A "$68 first trial" is therefore not the price of getting better. It is the price of finding out what a physician thinks is wrong. Ask for the all-in cost of a typical course before you commit.

Seniority is the biggest single price lever

At the same clinic, on the same day, the fee can more than triple depending on who sees you. Oriental Remedies charges $60–90 for an initial consultation with a Physician and $180–250 with its Chief Medical Officer. Eu Yan Sang runs $25 with a Physician to $60 with a Consultant Physician.

For a straightforward complaint — a stiff neck, a recurring headache, general fatigue — the junior tier is usually the right call. Save the senior physician for something that has already failed to respond to treatment elsewhere.

Check the register, and tell your doctor

Every practising TCM physician and acupuncturist in Singapore must be registered with the TCM Practitioners Board under the Ministry of Health. Check the individual physician, not just the clinic brand — a large chain will have physicians at very different career stages.

And tell your Western doctor what you have been prescribed. Some herbs interact with prescription medicines, blood thinners in particular. TCM works best alongside your medical care, not instead of it.

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*Prices, outlets and promotions verified against each clinic's own website in the first week of August 2026. All prices are subject to prevailing GST and change without notice — confirm with the clinic when you book. This article is general information, not medical advice.*