Patient Dudley Dragon in the SingHealth Annual Report. (Photo: SingHealth)
By Ng Wan Ching
Youngest is 7 while oldest is 80
LITTLE Nicholas Ray Martin and Mr Dudley Dragon have something in common – even though they have never met each other.
They are both featured in an annual report by public-listed SingHealth which uses people, instead of figures, to tell the story of the its year’s work.
Nicholas, now 7, is the youngest SingHealth patient to be featured in the SingHealth annual report and Mr Dragon is the oldest, at 80.
Unlike most annual reports, there are no columns of figures.
The SingHealth annual report has only four pages of figures in its 84 pages.
The focus is on people, namely SingHealth’s patients – 27 patients from nine SingHealth institutions were featured.
Said a SingHealth spokesman: “Our latest annual is based on our staff motto, ‘Patients. At the heart of all we do’ and centred around our patients.
“For this report, we chose to profile our patients and only our patients.”
Like little Nicholas, who has come a long way since he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when he was just 4.
He has finished the most intensive part of his treatment and is now on maintenance treatment. He’s finally able to go back to school and is in primary one.
Said his mother Mrs Meena Martin, 40, a kindergarten teacher: “I remember the day he was diagnosed, I got the news that I was pregnant with our third child. It was joy and sorrow at the same time.
“It was a very tough thing to go through and the nurses and doctors at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) really helped us pull through.”
Doctors also told her that it was a good thing she was pregnant. She could save her cord blood in case Nicholas needed it.
“At that time, I just did what I had to do. Nicholas has pulled through so far and he is in remission. We are all hoping and praying for the best,” she said.
When she saw the report and her son’s picture in it, she was very touched.
“I have read so many reports and this one is really different. It feels very personal, not just because my son is in it, but also because you get to read about all these other people’s conditions and how they were helped. It gives you a very good idea of what SingHealth is all about,” she said.
Oldest patient
Mr Dudley Dragon was not only the oldest patient to be featured in the annual report, but he was also the oldest patient to undergo robotic surgery at the National Heart Centre.
A retired teacher, Mr Dragon had a heart bypass in July 2007, but you would not know it from looking at his chest.
Instead of the long “zipper” scar that marks heart bypass survivors, all he has are two 2cm scars and a 5cm one.
His surgeons at NHC used a robot to perform minimally invasive “keyhole” surgery.
That meant he was spared from having to have his breast bone sawn open – a painful feature of conventional bypass surgery.
His doctors could also operate while his heart was beating, so it did not need to be stopped and restarted and he did not need to go on the heart-lung machine.
Mr Dragon went home after five days in hospital.
“I had no pain after the operation, even without painkillers. I immediately felt very good and well,” he said.
The use of the robot, called the da Vinci surgical system, has allowed heart surgeons here to perform heart bypasses, repair heart valves and remove chest tumours in a minimally invasive way.
So far, doctors at NHC only use robotic surgery on patients who need a single bypass. Those who need more bypasses will have to undergo conventional surgery as robotic surgery will take too long.
For now, NHC charges the same fee for robotic procedures as conventional operations, though each robotic procedure costs $2,500 to $5,000 more.
You can read the annual report, which was released in December, online at www.singhealth.com.sg/AboutUs/Reports/Annual+Report+FY07.htm or at the National Library.
