1)       SingHealth-related News

a)         CGH doctor on latest Standard Obstacle Course

TNP (p10-11) reported on the SAF's redesigned standard obstacle course. Relevant safety measures have also been taken during the construction of this latest type of course, said Dr Roger Tian, a sports physician from CGH. The course has been designed to minimise unnecessary risks like twisted ankles or sprained knees, said Dr Tian, who has been roped in by the SAF to ensure that the soldiers' safety and fitness are not compromised. ST (pA8) and TDY (p2) carried similar reports.

b)         Local film to raise awareness of dementia; CGH, ADA and HPB develop 
            pilot to train caregivers

ST (pB2) reported that HPB is raising awareness of dementia through the use of a short film produced by home-grown film maker Royston Tan. The six-minute film depicting an elderly man suffering from dementia is based on a real story of Mr Tan’s childhood friend’s father. The campaign was developed after a survey last year found that only one in 1,000 people could name three symptoms of dementia. Minister Khaw was given a preview of the film during his visit to the Tampines branch of New Horizon Centre, a day-care centre for dementia patients run by the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA). The full-length version of the film will be available on YouTube on Sep 26. Some 20,000 DVDs of the film will also be made available to the public via video retailers Poh Kim and VideoEzy, and at talks held from this month to November.  HPB, ADA and CGH are also developing a programme to teach caregivers how to look after dementia patients. HPB hopes to recruit about 200 trainees for the three-year pilot programme which it plans to launch by the end of the year. TDY (p1), ZB (p6), WB (p4) TNP (p8) and MyPaper (pA4) carried similar reports.

c)         SGH physiotherapist on the importance of the right pillow

WB (p6) reported that people who regularly snore should not use a pillow that is too low. Ms Karen Koh Hui Ping, senior principal physiotherapist at SGH, explained the function of pillows and gave advice on what type of pillow is suitable for different sleeping positions. She also said that people who like to sleep on their sides need a higher pillow so that the head is kept level with the rest of the trunk; while those who sleep on their backs should use a lower one.

d)         SNEC doctor on contact lenses

CH 8's Good Morning Singapore interviewed Dr Lim Li, a senior consultant with SNEC, about the use of contact lenses, the types of lenses available and the potential issues that can arise from wearing lenses. She also shared tips on how to prevent any problems and answered callers' queries.

a)         Calls for banks to review safeguards for dementia customers

CNA and CH 5 reported that recent incidents involving dementia patients and their bank accounts have led to calls for banks to review their procedures and offer better safeguards. The Ministry of Health (MOH) estimates that about 53,000 people in Singapore will be living with dementia by 2020, up from 22,000 in 2005. Reports featured the story of an 89-year-old woman who closed the POSB fixed deposit account she had with her daughter, and her daughter was not notified by the bank. The bank was unable to comment, citing customer confidentiality. But a spokesperson said "bank staff cannot pass credible judgement on the psychological or mental well-being of any customer". The bank also cannot unilaterally invoke any sanctions even if the customer is mentally incapacitated, added the spokesperson. The spokesperson also said that when a bank staff member notices something amiss about a customer's mental awareness, the employee will not proceed with the customer's request. The employee will also advise the customer to consult the other account holder or a family member. However the bank respects the right of an account holder to operate the account and "will not contact the other account holder independently". The Office of the Public Guardian, which comes under the Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry, advises Singaporeans to appoint someone they trust to be their "proxy decision maker" if they lose their mental capacity.

3)         Letter & Commentary

a)         Commentary: Looking ahead to medical milestones

ST (pA27) carried a commentary by Su Guaning, president of NTU, who commented on the new medical school. Faced with the challenge of an ageing population and increasing life expectancy, a change in focus from expensive hospital-based healthcare to more affordable community-based healthcare had already begun. Singapore's ability to support a healthy and chronically sick, ageing population without overcrowding our hospitals will be a key factor in helping to keep healthcare affordable for all.  To implement this policy successfully, he felt that we would need to train more doctors to be not just specialists, diagnosticians and therapists based on clinical reasoning and evidence-based medicine, but also to be overall care managers. As medicine and technology play ever more intertwined roles in patient care, the doctor of tomorrow would also need to be knowledgeable about the latest advances in medical technology. In short, he or she would need to be a physician, healthcare manager and clinical scientist rolled into one.  As an engineer, Mr Su said he was greatly excited by the prospect of having a medical school that will be able to leverage NTU's established strengths in engineering to come up with solutions for some of the medical problems we face, taking a leaf from Imperial College's experience in successfully integrating engineering and medicine. The interface between engineering and medicine will provide fertile ground for research into areas such as medical devices that can revolutionise health care, the same way that once-revolutionary devices such as pacemakers, dialysis machines, prosthetics, MRIs and artificial organs had done.

b)         Letter: Polyclinics need to improve their service

ZB (p21) carried a letter from Mr Liu Guang Huan, a regular polyclinic visitor. Mr Liu noted the usual practice of undergoing a blood test a week before seeing the doctor. However, for his last checkup, the doctor did not inform him to go for a blood test. Thinking that the doctor forgot to tell him so, Mr Liu himself decided to head to the polyclinic for a blood test before his next appointment. He was given a number and waited for two hours before he was informed that he did not need a blood test. Mr Liu is very upset over this and felt that with electronic records nowadays, the polyclinic should have been able to detect and inform him immediately that he did not need the test, instead of making him wait. He asked for an explanation from the polyclinic. Also, Mr Liu said that when he saw the doctor, the consultation took only 3 minutes as the doctor simply asked if he was fine and asked him to return half a year later for a blood test and checkup, although Mr Liu had to wait an hour to see him. He noted that he had the same experience at TTSH when he returned to the hospital for a checkup a year after having surgery to remove an intestinal growth. The doctor at TTSH had simply asked if he was fine and then told him to return the following year for an X-ray and checkup. Mr Liu said time was precious to everybody and commented that the polyclinic doctor should simply give a year’s worth of medication and ask him to return after the blood test is done, while the TTSH doctor should not have asked him to return a year after his surgery and should instead ask him to return only two years later, after his X-ray. Mr Liu said he would then save time as compared to making two wasted trips and doctors could also have a lighter workload.    

4)         Other Health News

a)         Cockroaches key to future antibiotics?

ST (pA26) reported off wires that British scientists were hoping that the cockroach might hold the key to the next-generation antibiotics. Insects such as cockroaches have a defence mechanism against bacteria, a 'logical' development from living in unhygienic conditions, research from the University of Nottingham showed. Tissue from the brains and nervous systems of cockroaches and locusts killed more than 90 per cent of MRSA and E. coli without damaging human cells, scientists said. Mutant strains of drug-resistant bacteria, called superbugs, are a growing concern among medical researchers. These superbugs "have shown the ability to cause untreatable infections, and have become a major threat in our fight against bacterial diseases," said co-researcher Naveed Khan. "Thus, there is a continuous need to find additional sources of novel antimicrobials to confront this menace." The brain and nervous system of the cockroach and the locust held nine molecules that were toxic to multi-drug resistant superbugs. Using state-of-the-art analytical tools, the research team was studying the specific properties of the antibacterial molecules. The team would then test the potency of these molecules against a variety of emerging superbugs such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and Burkholderia. BT (p20) carried a similar report.

b)         Shanghai kids in obesity crisis

MyPaper (pA9) reported off foreign media that families in booming Shanghai are facing an obesity crisis, with more than one third of their school-age children overweight or obese, and the proportion continuing to grow. The report quoted Dr Tang Qingya, director of the clinical nutrition centre at Shanghai Xinhua Hospital, who concluded that Shanghai has the highest percentage of obese and overweight children of any cities in the country after recently studying some 3,157 pupils aged eight to 10 in the city’s Baoshan and Yangpu districts. The report also highlighted the various health risks linked to obesity.

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