CanHOPE Kuching holds talk to increase community health awareness
KUCHING: The medical world evolves continuously, bringing new and more effective treatment for some of the most devastating diseases.
This was evident in a talk organised by CanHOPE Kuching to increase community health awareness at Imperial Hotel for an audience of over 100 on Saturday night.
CanHOPE is a non-profit cancer counseling and support service provided by Parkway Cancer Centre Singapore.
Consultant nephrologist Dr Roger Tan Choo Hian from Gleneagles Medical Centre, Singapore who was interviewed ahead of his talk ‘ Why choose kidney transplant?’ told reporters why a person with advanced kidney failure should aim for a transplant instead of sitting at a dialysis machine several times a week. “Survival rate is better,” he said. While Singapore has a law where every citizen has to donate functional organs unless they opt out while still living, much of Asia is still gripped by taboos and misconception, said Dr Tan.
“Awareness is not there. There’s no public education, no legal system, and the governments don’t promote transplant or are not planning to increase awareness of transplants. When people are ignorant, fear will always overtake them.”
Dr Tan sub- specialises in dialysis, kidney transplant, chronic kidney failure and hypertension.
He also has keen interest in treating autoimmune kidney conditions, such as lupus nephritis, which is an inflammation of the kidney caused by an auto immune disease.
As one of the few transplant physicians to perform high-risk kidney transplants, he advocates it strongly because it gives patients a second chance at life.
However, the percentage of transplant remains very small with 90 per cent of kidney patients on dialysis.
He explained the strategies Singapore has adopted to increase the number of donors, such as increasing the age from 60 to 65, and allowing donation from emotionally-related individuals who are not family.
“They need to go through a very stringent process to ensure that the donor is truly altruistic and donating to save lives and not for fi nancial gain. This system is to prevent organ trading in Singapore,” said Dr Tan.
In Singapore, there are around 600-700 people who wait an average six to eight years for a kidney. Around 4,000 others are on dialysis.
He also pointed out that in the past eight years, technology and better medication have allowed donors from different blood groups to donate without the kidneys being rejected.
“Matching is no longer an issue when it comes to the kidney.”
Also present was Consultant haematologist Dr Colin Phipps Diong, who talked about the latest treatment in ‘Fighting Lymphoma with Targeted Therapies’.
A significant takeaway from his interview with reporters is that some blood cancers can be treated with pills or injections with significantly less side effects and better response compared to chemotherapy.
“Blood cancer is less common than breast cancer, about 1 in 200,000,” he said.
He explained that newer treatment targets only cancer cells, and there are many types of therapy for different types of blood cancer.
“One of the most dramatic treatments is for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). Previously, it was treated with strong chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant.
“Now, we just give pills. That is a real change in treatment,” said Dr Diong, adding that 70 per cent of patients won’t require other treatment.
Also present was CanHOPE East Malaysia area manager and counsellor Connie Tan.