SINGAPORE: In a first for Singapore and the Southeast Asia region, the National Healthcare Group (NHG) has set up a Diabetes Registry.

The Registry on Wednesday released its first set of findings, which was gathered from its pool of 138,151 diabetic patients.

It found that, like the rest of the world, patients here have poor control of blood sugar and cholesterol.

According to the National Health Survey in 2004, there are at least 330,000 people, aged 18 to 69, suffering from diabetes in Singapore.

The actual number is much higher when it includes children and elderly aged 70 and above.

Last year, diabetes was the 7th leading cause of death in Singapore.

As diabetes is linked to diseases of the heart, kidney and blood vessels, many diabetics end up having their vision impaired or their toes amputated when their blood sugar levels are not monitored and controlled.

56-year-old private tutor Mike Lee, who has been living with diabetes for 20 years, almost lost his foot to the condition.

His diet control slackened and two years ago, his blood sugar level shot up to a dangerous level.

Mr Lee said: "One day, my leg got swollen. I rushed to the hospital and was hospitalised for three weeks. I couldn't walk after that. I was in a wheelchair and it took me a few months before I could walk with some support. Even now, after two years, I haven't fully recovered!"

Like him, one in seven diabetics or 14 percent of the diabetic patients in Singapore have poor blood sugar control, according to the new NHG Diabetes Registry.

The figure is much better compared to the situation in the United States, where 49 percent of diabetics have poor blood sugar control.

But when it comes to cholesterol control, diabetics here fare just as poorly as American patients.

NHG's Diabetes Registry wants to bring these numbers down by improving patient care and management.

The healthcare group sees 138,151 diabetic patients at the Alexandra Hospital, National University Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and nine NHG polyclinics.

Its S$3-million electronic database was developed with funding from the Health Ministry.

It captures clinical information of all its patients, including their blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol results, and the various tests they have done.

The Registry even prompts doctors to schedule an eye or blood test when it is due.

Dr Jason Cheah, chief projects officer at NHG, said: "For the patients, it'll definitely help them in the long run because it'll prevent us from doing unnecessary tests and hopefully that will save money for them.

"It'll also enable us to identify the patients who need help in terms of improving their diabetic care and from this, it'll help us improve their diabetic care over time."

Mr Lee said: "It helps a lot! They even send reminders to my handphone. They send SMS to remind me of my appointments – regular appointments for the leg screening and eye screening and to check up on the general health conditions."

The NHG also plans to expand the Registry to track and manage other chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and stroke.

To educate patients on how to manage their chronic diseases, NHG has produced an eight-part docu-drama titled "LifeWise".

The programme, which stars MediaCorp artiste Adam Chen, airs on Saturday nights from 1 September on MediaCorp's Channel 8.

It will run on Channel 5 next February.


- CNA/so