Medical Camp In Sree Narayana Mission Home For The Aged Sick

13 Mar 2005

By Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Parliamentary Secretary For Health

Venue: Sree Narayana Mission Home For The Aged Sick

Mr M K Bhasi, President, Sree Narayana Mission Home

Mrs Vijaya  Sreenidhi, CEO, Sree Narayana Mission Home

Executive Committee Members, Sree Narayana Mission Home

Ladies and gentlemen

I am happy to join you all here today at the Medical Camp at Sree Narayana Mission Home. I am encouraged to see this Home continually stretch itself to do more for its members and volunteers & neighbours living in the nearby residential areas.

Older at risk for disease conditions

We have heard much about how our population is ageing very rapidly.  We also hear that as we age, we are more at risk of getting illnesses .

Preliminary results from the latest National Health Survey  showed that almost 3 in 10 (29%) of all aged 60 - 69 had diabetes.  This is 15 times more than those aged 30 - 39 years (2%).    More than half (56%) of those aged 60 - 69 had high blood pressure, and this is 6 times more than those aged 30 - 39 years old. (9%)

Overall, the results suggest that there has been a slight improvement in the health of those aged 60 - 69 years, with a decrease in the proportion of those having diabetes and hypertension compared to 6 years ago.   The decrease is more marked for high blood pressure from nearly two thirds of those aged 60 - 69 years in 1998 to 56% last year.

Poor disease control = higher risk for complications, disability

The proportion of people with diabetes who did not know that they had the disease condition also decreased from 62% to 52% between 1998 and 2004.   Over the same 6-year period, the proportion of people who did not know they had high blood pressure reduced from 53% to 40%.  While this is good news, it is worrying that so many people are still unaware that they had diabetes & high blood pressure. This means that their diseases were not well-controlled as they were not aware that they had the illness. 

We have heard of persons with poorly controlled diabetes, having complications like amputation of the leg, blindness, heart & kidney problems, and infections like pneumonia.  Chronic disease conditions if not well-managed, will lead to a life filled with frequent hospitalisations for treatment of disease complications, and disability, when we are no longer able to care for our own personal needs. This is not only costly, inconveniences both ourselves and our family members, but also will lead to a poorer quality of life.

You can do something

The good news is all these can be avoided.  We can take the first steps to taking charge of our lives, through preventive measures of keeping a healthy lifestyle - exercise adequately, eat moderately & avoid smoking.  Certainly, it must start from young.  We cannot wait till we are old before we start keeping a healthy lifestyle.  The Health Promotion Board (or "HPB" in short) has been actively encouraging Singaporeans to lead healthy lifestyles.  HPB has also put in place the subsidized "Check Your Health" health screening programme. This programme is conducted on Sundays in void decks in HDB town centres so that the elderly can participate in this programme. The challenge we have is to get Singaporeans to come and have themselves screened.

Similarly, this Medical Camp has brought free health screening to you here at your doorstep by Sree Narayana Mission Home.  There will also be eye checks in addition to blood tests. I strongly encourage all of you who have not been screened before to participate and get a report card on your health.  I understand that Sree Narayana will be arranging for follow-up talks & other preventive care management plans.  I would encourage Sree Narayana to also network with other health care providers to ensure that individuals who may need follow-up assessment and services are referred accordingly.

Having ourselves screened is only the first stage of our journey to take responsibility of our health.  Once we receive the results, what do we do?  If we are told we are in the pink of health, certainly we will be overjoyed. Yes, we must be doing the right things and should continue doing so.  If we are told that we need to go for further follow ups, we must take that advice.   We must go for further assessments to ensure that any disease condition is detected early so that we can arrest them early - thus delaying their deterioration.

As a community based health service provider, Sree Narayana home is in a good position to send this message to your service users and those in the community.  Keeping a good and healthy can be fun and should be encouraged as the mission in every family.  Every one has a role to play.  Parents must model positive healthy behaviours to their young.  In this way we send a consistent message to everyone that our health is our own responsibility. 

Allow me to congratulate Sree Narayana Home for organizing this event and taking the step to reach out to the community. I wish you success in today's programme and the many more initiatives that you will embark in the future.

Thank you.