Dr Desmond Wai

02/08/2025

Singapore Medical Association (SMA) and Singapore Academy of Medicine (AM) wrote a joint letter to DPM Gan Kim Yong, Chairman of MAS, on suggestions on changes for health insurance/integrated shield plans, published in Lianhe Zaobao on 2 Aug 2025.

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story20250801-7260312

Proposal 1: Amending the Insurance Act or Enacting a New "Health Insurance Act" to Shift IP Regulation to MOH. let MOH alone regulate health insurers. Currently, health insurers are regulated by both MOH and MAS

Proposal 2: Establishing an IP Policyholders' Association (Similar to CASE or SIAS) to educate patients of their rights under different plans from different insurers

Proposal 3: Setting Up a Three-Way IP Dispute Platform (IPDP) to make it easier for patients to appeal if their claims are rejected

I was interviewed and I said I supported their suggestions. How insurers make medical decisions should be made on medical evidence. And there should be an easier way for patients to appeal if their claims got rejected

SMA has > 10,000 drs as members, and AM has > 4000 specialists members. Some of them overlap. They are our voices

Wong Chiang Yin, Chee Kwan Ng, Gan Kim Yong,Gwen Lee Geng Wei 李庚洧, Lianhe Zaobao 联合早报

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#韦俊韬医生 #韦俊韬

20/07/2025

World Hepatitis Day

I was interviewed by ShinMin Daily and it was published on 20 July 2025

World hepatitis Day will be on 28 July 2025 and this is part of the education effort of Shin Min Daily News and SPH.

World Hepatitis Day, observed annually on July 28, commemorates the birthday of Dr. Baruch Blumberg, the scientist who discovered the hepatitis B virus and developed a vaccine for it.

We are fortunate that prevalence of chronic hepatitis B and C in Singapore are 2.5% and

24/06/2025

I was interviewed by Shin Min Daily and was published on 24 Jun 2025

I thought they asked the wrong person but their initial question is simple: “Can we live a normal life with only one kidney?”

Yes, we can live on only one kidney. Some people are born with one kidney and some healthy individuals donate a kidney to another person for live donor renal transplant

The reporter than asked me about falling from monkey bars. I answered swinging on monkey bars can be potentially dangerous. When I did posting at Accident and Emergency Department, I have seen many young children fracturing their forearms, when they fell from the bar and landed on their hands

It turned out, sadly, that a 9 year old boy fell from money bar, hitting his loin, that ruptured his kidney. He has undergone surgery to remove the damaged kidney

Sad, but do keep an eye on your kids when they are playing in playground. Playground can be a dangerous place for children.

www.drdesmondwai.com

22/06/2025

I contributed this to Straits Times Forum, and is published on 23 Jun 2025

Forum: Ensure AI tools are tailored to meet Singapore’s healthcare needs
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/forum/forum-ensure-ai-tools-tailored-to-meet-singapores-healthcare-needs

AI is coming fast and furious in medicine. But I raised 3 points
Most commercially available AI products are derived from data outside Singapore. We need to validate them locally before using
We don’t have good studies to compare different AI products for the same function. Eg, I have tried at least 3 different AI products to help detect more polyps during colonoscopy. They are quite similar with no obvious winner. It is hard to choose the best. We should try all before buying any one
AI products are not cheap. Companies that invested tens or even hundreds of million into making AI products would need to recuperate their investments. It is going to increase healthcare costs so we ought to be prudent before spending money

www.drdesmondwai.com

10/06/2025

I wrote to ST
I hope patients think twice before suing dr or hospitals.
Only the paid expert witnesses n lawyers win. Dr, hospitals, and the plaintiffs lose
And every other patients also lose as hospitals spent money on legal

Forum: Suing doctors should never be a frivolous decision
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/forum/forum-suing-doctors-should-never-be-a-frivolous-decision

23/05/2025

I wrote this to Straits Times Forum and was published on 23 May 2025

A recent ST article is saying many of our Philippines nurses are leaving, or not even coming to Singapore

What we need to ask is then why are so many foreign nurses still work here

I argue this is because SG is close to their homeland and they can return home easily. We also treat our nures fairly, with same bonuses, training and promotion opportunities as local

But we must continue to treat them well. Otherwise they go elsewhere

https://www.raceagainstcancer.org.sg/donate!P00177CS

www.drdesmondwai.com

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18/05/2025

https://www.raceagainstcancer.org.sg/participant!P00177CS

Do donate generously to the Race Against Cancer 2025 run

14/05/2025

https://www.raceagainstcancer.org.sg/donate!P00177CS
Dear friends
I will be taking part in the Race Against Cancer 2025, a fund raising run organised by the Singapore Cancer Society
I will run the 15km
Please my friend, help donate to the SCS to help patients do prevention and treatment.
Donations enjoy some tax subsidies, do click onto the link and help
Thanks

27/04/2025

I was interviewed by Shin Min Daily News and was published on 27 April 2025
This lady was diagnosed to have acute liver failure. Her doctors did not tell her cause of the acute liver failure. She was intubated and is in urgent need for emergency liver transplant
This lady had symptoms of food poisoning, vomiting and diarrhoea, 2 weeks before she was hospitalised .
I was asked how the food poisoning led to her liver problem
I answered I do not think the food poisoning led to her acute liver failure. Causes of ALF include hep B flares, acute viral hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, drug induced liver injuries, etc.
Anyway, she is in urgent need of liver transplant. Her family is appealing for live liver donor to save her

www.drdesmondwai.com

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16/04/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ypuRJJkyJo

I share 2 painless ways to lose weights
1. choose low density food, such as water, soup, black coffee, Chinese/Japanese/Korean tea, fruits, tomatoes, pear etc. They fill the stomach and creates a sense of satiety, with low calories
2. portion control. reduce the size of food, ask for less rice, standard but not upsize portion

Reference: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retri...

www.drdesmondwai.com

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Dr Desmond Wai，韦俊韬医生, consultant hepatologist and gastroenterologist has over 20 years of experience in treating patients with liver (fatty liver, liver cirrhosis, Hepatitis) and digestive diseases (GERD, gall stones). Dr Wai has managed more than 100 live donor liver transplant patients...

04/04/2025

Interview on love 972

Honored to be interviewed by Violet Fenying on constipation. As usual, the best part is the Q and A where from the questions the audience ask, I can understand their problems and issues from the viewpoint

I have not been to radiointerview for many years as we have been doing via phone

But the executive director felt voice quality is better at the studio so i went up

I had great fun

www.drdesmondwai.com

04/04/2025

Talk on colon cancer at US Embassy, Singapore

I was honored to be invited to give a talk on Colon Cancer screening at US Embassy last week

Its an eye opener

1. They beam the talk to other embassies in the region so those outside SG can also view

2. The audience is super on and asks lots of questions

3. This is my first time entering the US Embassy. The security is tight. A very beautifully built place. I was searching hard but did not see the current President's photo

Dr Andrew Hyatt and his team were very hospitable and showed me around their office after the interactive talk

www.drdesmondwai.com

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