SINGAPORE – The SingHealth Duke-NUS Allergic Diseases Centre (SDADC) was launched on April 17 to cut down the amount of time and money patients spend to consult various specialists at different hospitals.
As allergic diseases “rarely occur in isolation”, a coordinated, patient-centred approach across specialities is essential to optimise care for a full spectrum of the disease, said Associate Professor Lee Haur Yueh, who helms the centre.
Prof Lee, who is a senior consultant at the Department of Dermatology in Singapore General Hospital (SGH), said SDADC is “a platform for doctors in the different disciplines within the (SingHealth) cluster to come together to provide coordinated care and address the increasing prevalence and complexity of allergic diseases in Singapore”.
One in four Singaporeans suffers from conditions such as asthma, allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and eczema; as well as from food and drug allergies.
Many of them see different doctors while dealing with their various hypersensitivities, often duplicating resources; and there are some with more severe symptoms who still remain undiagnosed or receive inadequate treatment.
The system was launched at the two-day 26th SGH Annual Scientific Meeting on April 17 by Senior Minister of State for Health Tan Kiat How.
In his speech, Mr Tan said: “True healthcare excellence emerges not from isolated efforts, but from coordinated action across institutions, disciplines and care settings.”
Unlike the traditional speciality-based approach, “which leads to fragmented treatment and resource duplication as patients navigate various specialists”, Mr Tan said, SDADC aligns services and research across institutions.
“This means a child with chronic severe eczema first seen at KKH (KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital) can seamlessly transition to adult care at SGH, and a patient with multiple allergic conditions can receive integrated treatment rather than navigating various specialities that could span dermatology, rheumatology and respiratory medicine,” he added.
