TTSH first to perform robotic gastrectomy in SE Asia

More breathroughs, I suppose, in the medical field: would you be operated on by a human doctor when your time comes, or by an android, or perhaps, a really no-frills, no cosmetics metals-and-wires mechanical robot? Who can tell?
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By Olivia Siong | Posted: 26 December 2011

SINGAPORE: A more precise surgery method is now available to those suffering from stomach cancer. Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has become the first in Southeast Asia to perform the robotic gastrectomy procedure.

Stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Singapore, and doctors say that stomach cancer is largely triggered by poor lifestyle choices, such as overeating or eating too much barbequed food. Only a small percentage is caused by genetic factors.

75-year-old Loh Ah Mye was diagnosed with stage one stomach cancer last month. But due to her age, doctors found it risky for her to go through the usual key hole surgery to remove cancer cells.

She opted to undergo the robotic gastrectomy procedure, and became the first person in Southeast Asia to do so. The procedure is commonly performed in Korea and Japan, where the incidence of stomach cancer is high.

Madam Loh said: "I really did recover quite quickly. When I woke up from the operation, yes I was in pain, but I could get up to walk around and also go to the toilet."

The surgeon performing the robotic gastrectomy procedure operates on the patient through the use of a console while watching a 3D high-definition screen. Instruments, which are mounted on robotic arms controlled by the doctor, are then inserted into the body.

The robotic arms are able to mimic the movement of the hand and the wrist within the abdomen. This allows freer movement and precision. This especially helps lymph node dissection, which is much more difficult to perform in laparoscopic surgery.

The portion affected by cancer cells in the abdomen is then removed.

The surgery is typically conducted on people with stage 1 and 2 cancer, when the affected area is still relatively small. Trials are underway to see if such a surgery is suitable for later stages of stomach cancer.

Dr Jaideepraj Rao, a consultant with the Department of General Surgery at TTSH, said: "In this kind of key hole surgery or robotic surgery, the incisions are extremely small, so the pain is much less and they recover faster. We have high-definition cameras that can zoom in, so really we see the field magnified, every small structure can be identified, so our dissection is very meticulous and there's less blood loss."

Madam Loh said she still suffers from some side-effects from the operation, as she still throws up some of her food.

But doctors said that this is a common response to most stomach surgeries.

Currently the robotic gastrectomy method costs more for the patient.

However, doctors said the price is likely to drop, as they expect more people to opt for this kind of surgery. This method has also been used in other hospitals in Singapore for prostate and colon cancer.

-CNA/ac


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
TTSH first to perform robotic gastrectomy in SE Asia

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Hyflux in joint venture to develop 2 seawater desalination plants in Libya

By Tang See Kit, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 24 June 2009 2052 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore-based water treatment firm Hyflux has made its first foray into Libya. It has entered a joint venture to invest and develop two seawater desalination plants there.

The plants which use membrane-based reverse osmosis technology will be located in Libya's two largest cities - Tripoli and Benghazi.

Hyflux signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the General Desalination Company (GDC), the commercial arm of Libya's Ministry of Utilities on Wednesday.

The two plants will provide a combined total of at least 900,000 cubic metres of drinking water every day.

This exceeds another Hyflux project in Algeria which is the current single largest desalination plant in the world with a capacity of 500,000 cubic metres per day.

That project has a value of S$632 million.

Hyflux will be providing the two plants with its award winning Kristal Ultra Filtration pretreatment membrane and process technology.

Hyflux did not provide a specific investment figure for its latest projects.

But it hopes to set "new benchmarks in terms of size and efficiency" for the Libyan plants.

The developments are also in line with the company's strategy to focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Sam Ong, group deputy, CEO/CFO, Hyflux, said: "This is a very iconic, significant milestone for Hyflux. This is a new geographical expansion. We believe we are going to put more resources into the MENA region, and that includes Libya. And we believe North Africa and the Middle East region will continue to be big market potential for Hyflux. This will add significantly to what we are able to do in Singapore, Southeast Asia, India and China."

The details of the joint venture project including conceptual designs and finance models will be finalised in the months ahead.

Hyflux also said it will be talking to bankers recommended by its Libyan partners to discuss project financing.

The construction timeline has not been finalized but Hyflux said the plants will be built one after another. - CNA/vm

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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Yahoo! They are hiring again

by Esther Fung

Updated 08:47 AM Jun 10, 2009

Mr Ken Mandel, vice president and managing director of Yahoo! Southeast Asia. Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Southeast Asia

UPBEAT about its prospects in South-east Asia including Singapore, American search engine firm Yahoo! is now hiring more staff here - a turnaround from the layoffs carried out last year.

"What we're doing now is hiring specific people for specific areas. Every company goes through a downsizing phase especially when the world economy is imploding," Mr Ken Mandel, vice-president and managing director of Yahoo South-east Asia, said on the sidelines of the ad:tech fair for digital marketers yesterday.

The firm is now looking to hire people in Singapore with competencies in performance marketing and business development.

Yahoo's website lists at least 23 available positions in the region, with over half of the openings in Singapore.

Media reports last year said that Yahoo's South-east Asia headquarters, based here, employs about 150 staff.

Mr Mandel declined to provide any employment figures and would only say that the company axed less than six per cent of its workforce in South-east Asia last year.

"We wanted to make sure our organisation was poised for growth because it was a matter of time before the economy sorted itself out, and we'd be back on the fast track of growth," Mr Mandel, who took on his current role in January last year, told Today.

Last year was about plugging gaps, but, the focus this year is to accelerate growth, he added.

In Singapore, Yahoo is targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), especially "smaller players who just want to reach someone very specific," said Mr Mandel.

SME owners, after buying keywords related to their specific businesses, will have leads generated by the search engine.

Yahoo, which has 50 million unique users a month in South-east Asia out of a total of 100 million Internet users, sees potential growth in the online advertising space.

"Right now, we're looking at one or two per cent of total advertising spend in Singapore," said Mr Mandel. Through education, he hopes that online advertising spend would make up at least 10 per cent.

From TODAY, Business – Wednesday, 10-Jun-2009; see the source article here.