Healthcare’s new challenge is ‘living well’, but women spend more years in ill health: Ong Ye Kung

Through the Healthier SG check-up, a general practitioner can identify a woman’s risk for  hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The government also provides financial assistance for panel testing for breast cancer and ovarian cancer related genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, after which further preventive measures will also be subsidised and supported by the government. 

Women at risk of osteoporosis and sarcopenia can also receive the appropriate tests under Healthier SG and can be referred to Active Ageing Centres (AACs), where they can access fitness training, coaches, and weightlifting training. 

Osteoporosis is a medical condition that makes bones weak and brittle, while sarcopenia refers to the age-related gradual loss of muscle mass. 

“You don’t have to sign up for an expensive gym package, all you need is a couple of dumbbells, a resistance band, and you can do a lot,” said Mr Ong.

PREVENTIVE, PREDICTIVE, PERSONALISED HEALTH

In the future, Mr Ong said healthcare infrastructure will have to be expanded, including improving its IT systems, harnessing AI technology and encouraging more predictive systems, such as the January 2027 rollout of the first AI model under Healthier SG to make predictions for diabetes and high cholesterol. 

The government is also in the phase of mapping the genome sequence for around 450,000 Singaporeans, and may eventually raise the number further, he said.

Doing so allows for doctors to advise patients on an individual basis regarding their risk level and the most suitable preventive measure to take to prevent severe diseases, among other things.

“The future of healthcare is the 3Ps: it’s preventive, it’s predictive, and it’s personalised,” said Mr Ong. 

Dr Biden said that she hoped that the US would follow in Singapore’s footsteps in encouraging preventive health, such as getting bone density scans at an earlier age. 

“Women really want a roadmap about where their health is, where it’s going, and that should really start when women get their first periods, and then all through till the end of life, and so that they know what’s going to happen… We have to look at it as a steady continuum,” said Dr Biden. 

She then suggested that the US take a page out of Singapore’s approach by prioritising healthy ageing and not concentrate narrowly on menopause when it comes to women’s health. 

“We have to look beyond, and we have to come up with evidence-based studies, and do our recommendations for women,” said Dr Biden.

Asked whether he has had any difficulty encouraging behavioural change in rolling out community health hubs, Mr Ong said it is not difficult in the case of women.

“I think women are very open-minded to clinicians’ advice, to community advice. Men, we are stubborn,” said Mr Ong, who earlier noted that over 70 per cent of the participants at AACs are women. 

“But I’m generally optimistic because of the larger trend… that people do feel that they are living longer and they want to have a healthy life and they are open to suggestions.”