| The Straits Times
November 15, 2004
Only 11 experts for infectious diseases
More specialists, resources needed to handle growing
problem: CDC director
By Radha Basu
SINGAPORE has only 11 practising infectious disease
specialists who tackle everything from dengue, cholera
and melioidosis to Aids, Sars and bird flu, and that
is not enough, say doctors at the front line.
There is an urgent need for more money, research and
expertise to build up defences against the threats not
just from Aids but also other infectious diseases that
are becoming rampant, said Dr Leo Yee Sin, clinical
director of the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC).
Responding to Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji
Sadasivan's call for the CDC to do more in Aids prevention
and tackle an 'alarming Aids epidemic' here, Dr Leo
said yesterday that the CDC did not have the expertise
to do the job right now, as its focus had always been
treatment rather than prevention.
The number of new HIV cases has been increasing and
is set to cross the 300 mark this year, Dr Balaji warned
on Wednesday night. If this continues unchecked, he
said, Singapore might have 15,000 people with HIV by
2010.
Dr Leo told The Straits Times: 'Ever since the CDC
was set up, treatment has been our forte. What we've
been trained for is patient care and that will remain
our focus.'
However, if the CDC had to expand its role to include
prevention, it would need more money and trained manpower
to draw up and implement strategies. 'We need to relook
not just Aids, but all other infectious diseases, including
new ones like Sars and avian flu,' she said.
To do this, research was critical. In the case of Aids,
for example, it was not clear why, as Dr Balaji pointed
out, there was a sharp rise in new Aids infections among
homosexuals, from 54 cases last year to 77 in the first
10 months of this year.
Said Dr Leo: 'Is this rise in Aids cases because of
a change in sexual behaviour, a change in demographic
patterns or a change in social responsibility? We do
not know.'
Not much is known about other infectious diseases either,
noted Associate Professor Peter Preiser, an expert in
the field at Nanyang Technological University. 'In many
infectious diseases that are on the rise, such as dengue,
there are still no vaccines, and treatment options are
still quite limited.'
Training more physicians was also imperative, the experts
asserted. At present, the 11 practising infectious disease
specialists, five of whom work at the CDC, handle all
infectious diseases, not just Aids.
Although the Health Ministry website lists 15 infectious
diseases specialists, Dr Leo said only 11 were practising.
'We certainly need many more,' she said, adding that
public health in infectious diseases had been a 'neglected
field' for many years now.
Expertise alone would not do the job when it came to
disease prevention, said Dr Chong Weng Chiew, deputy
chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee for
Health. All sections of society, including government
and non-governmental organisations, businesses and the
community must be involved in infectious disease education
and prevention programmes, he said.
Offering to do his part was the chief executive
of gay portal Fridae.com, Dr Stuart Koe, who suggested
that the Health Ministry engage the gay community directly
in dialogues on the issue.
Dr Balaji, who said the 'promiscuous and unsafe
lifestyle advocated and practised by some gays' was
responsible for the recent explosion in cases, had singled
out an article in Fridae.com for criticism.
Dr Koe said the portal backed the Government's
stand on safe sex, but like other publications, it had
a mix of serious, fact-based articles as well as light-hearted,
entertainment pieces.
Preaching abstinence or faithfulness to your
spouse was not going to work with the gay community,
added Dr Koe, who offered the ministry Fridae.com's
'significant resources' to target Aids prevention messages
at homosexuals.
|
