Singapore Diary. Part 5: TP Dental and KK Women's and Children's and Sentosa

Continued from Part 4: ParkwayHealth and National Healthcare Group

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Started off with a swim and breakfast at the hotel again. Starting to feel like I've been here for a while. Unfortunately, my first meeting --with Raffles Hospital-- was canceled. I didn't know too much about the hospital, but based on its having the same name as the fancy hotel I was expecting something luxurious. I also wanted to ask them why they weren't JCI accredited. In any case the key person was on vacation and apparently they aren't dying for attention as much as some of the others. So I caught up on some other work and prepared for the rest of my day.

My first meeting was at TP Dental clinic, located in a Penthouse suite on Orchard Road, the 5th Avenue of Singapore. The clinic is in the same building as a very high end shopping mall, with various European luxury boutiques. We were met by Dr. Dominic WH Leung, who was filling in for the clinic's director. My Singapore Tourism guide seemed relieved. I think she was concerned that the director is over the top. In any case, Dr. Leung is a no-nonsense type, possibly under-selling the place.

When we were done there we joined a group of Asian journalists for lunch at the Singapore branch of Movenpick Marche. Many hearty appetites were again on display and I had to make sure not to eat too much. In the afternoon Vernon Baxter (Medical Times Middle East) and I visited the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, the biggest such facility in Singapore, where Adeline Kwan took us around before my interview with Pik Wan Chong. KK is part of the public SingHealth system, which is just now turning serious attention to international medical travelers.

That evening I joined a few journalists from Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam for dinner in a casual place at VivoCity, followed by a trip to Sentosa Island, which Singapore is trying hard to make into a resort destination. Most of the guides this week were young women just out of school, which was quite a contrast to the 50-something male guide who led us this evening. We saw a waterfront show at Sentosa, which combined lasers, live performers, water and fire. It was a big winner among my fellow audience members but quite a few steps down from Disney standards in terms of storyline and production value.

As I head back to the hotel it's hard to believe my stay in Singapore is almost done.

See Part 6: Thomson, Hopkins, AsiaMedic, National Neuroscience