Archive of "New centre to be set up to treat Aids", The Straits Times, 20 April 1985

=Scan of article & page=



=Editable text of article=

New centre to be set up to treat Aids

By KONG SOOK CHIN

It will have special facilities to tackle disease.

A NEW communicable disease centre to treat Aids (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and other infectious diseases will be set up at Tan Tock Seng Hospital The 200-bed centre with special facilities to deal with Aids will replai'e the present 160-bed CDC To be huilt under Phase 11 of the Redevelopment Plan for Tan Tock Seng Hospital, it will be on a site between Jalan Tan Tock Seng and Mandalay Road, opposite the existing CDC.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister of Slate (Health and Foreign Affairs) spoke of the special facilities for dealing with Aids yesterday In reply to a Straits Times question on government plans to tackle Aids He had Just completed a three-hour tour of the hospital ending at Ward 7*> which is reserved for Aids patients.

Mr Yeo said there are no details on the special facilities or number of beds for Aids patients at the moment as the plan is at a conceptual stage But the ministry will send a proposal for redeveloping the hospital to the Finance Ministry for approval as soon as possi Aids involves a mal functioning of the body’s immune system Hence, the ministry’s decision to develop clinical immunology a medical speciality, at the hospital is seen as a welcome move Mr Yeo said his tour was part of a programme of visits to major government hospitals to give him an overall appreciation of hospitals.

He said steps to contain the disease include stepping up biood tests for blood donors and high-risk groups, such as male and female prostitutes.

At least 15.00U people will have their blood screened for the Aids related virus HTLV-II1 with the Elisa test over the next three months or so.

The ministry also plans to bring from the Us the Western Blot test, a confirmation test for the HTLV-ITT virus, in about three months, he said.

Dr Kwa Soon Bee, Permanent Secretary (Health) and Director of Medical Services, said yesterday that the Western Blot test will be conducted in the Pathology laboratory.

A Health Ministry spokesman said the Elisa test is a more general test to detect the presence of the HTLV-III virus. She said the Western Blot test is a double check to weed out ‘false positives".

No drop in blood donations despite reports of disease

THERE has been no discernible drop ho far In the number of blood donors following reports that three people in Singapore have contracted a virus which Is linked u» Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).

This Is apparent from an analysis of the amount of blood donated. It h*s not varied since the first report on Aids last Wednesday.

Figures from the Blood Transfusion Service for the past three months showed that on average more than I.MS units of blood have been collected each week.

For the week beginning last Monday to Sunday, l,l&4 units were collected.

The number of units

Mr Yeo said the ministry will send more doctors overseas to keep up with the latest developments on dealing with the disease Dr On Director.

In the were:

Yong Wan. lood Transfusion Services. Head of the Haematology Department. Ministry of* Health, and Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Aids, is the first Singapore doctor vent She has just attended t he world's first major conference on Aids in Atlanta. US, which ended on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Tan Tock Seng Hospital official said yesterday that 23 of the 25 nurses at the CDC had withdrawn their requests for transfers. The other two were considering whether they too should withdraw their requests.

A ministry spokesman said tender documents art being prepared to further upgrade Ward 76 facilities — the wai*d will have six individual patient rooms and two intensive care of blood collected past few days Monday, 151 units; Tuesday, 115 units; Wednesday, 165 units and Thursday, 163 units. This Ls close to the dally average of about 141 units.

A Health Ministry spokesman said that regular blood donors were well Informed about Aids, as more than a month ago, they were Ksued with a pamphlet explaining that the disease could not be contracted through blood donation.

The spokesman said: “This Is because when someone gives blood, we use a new, sterile, disposable needle to collect the blood. The needle is discarded after each lie.” units.

The individual rooms are to reduce infection risks for Aids patients because even simple tnfec lions can be fatal for them due to a breakdown of their immune system.

Ward 76, where Aids patients will stay, has acquired two new machines — the bedpan steriliser casting more than $10,000 and the $10,000 Autoclave machine to sterilise articles such as nurses’ gowns.

From yesterday, Aids and the Aids-related virus HTLV-III have been made "notifiable’’ under the Infectious Diseases Act.

All doctors are required by law to report Aids or any suspected Aids case to the Medical Director, Middle Road Hospital.

Specified notification forms can be obtained from the Medical Direo tor. Middle Road Hospital. or the Head, CDC. Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

• Fair report* on subject show paper is credible: Forum, page tt.

=See also=
 * Archive of "Three in S’pore found with Aids-linked virus", The Straits Times, 10 April 1985
 * Archive of "Aids virus: Doctor who 'found it'", The Sunday Times, 14 April 1985
 * Archive of "A chance to be ahead in medicine", The Singapore Monitor, 16 April 1985
 * Archive of "Aids on ‘must report’ list", The Straits Times, 17 April 1985
 * Archive of "Undergrads to be taught about Aids", The Straits Times, 21 April 1885
 * Archive of "16 more may be carriers of Aids virus", The Straits Times, 30 April 1985
 * Archive of "Aids doctor thanks mum", The Straits Times, 12 May 1985
 * Archive of "Special lab to do Aids tests soon", The Straits Times, 18 May 1985
 * Archive of "Man with Aids related virus in hospital", The Straits Times, 21 July 1985
 * Archive of "Aids carrier leaves hospital", The Straits Times, 28 July 1985
 * Archive of "Ministry steps up Aids drive", The Straits Times, 5 September 1985
 * Archive of "Singapore ‘first in the world’ to have 100 % screening of donor blood", The Straits Times, 11 September 1985
 * Archive of "S’pore-Stanford research tie-up bid", The Straits Times, 10 October 1985
 * Archive of "Aids: 20,000 cleared", The Straits Times, 29 November 1985
 * Archive of "200 turn up for first public medical convention", The Straits Times, 28 April 1986
 * Archive of "Screening tests likely to uncover more Aids carriers", The Straits Times, 1 May 1986
 * Archive of "100 people could be Aids carriers here: Expert", The Straits Times, 3 August 1986
 * Archive of "Aids claims first victim here", The Straits Times, 11 April 1987
 * Archive of "Fear of Aids pushes up condom sales", The Straits Times, 19 April 1987
 * Archive of "Govt dental clinics phasing out boiling", The Straits Times, 1 October 1987
 * Earliest cases of HIV/AIDS in Singapore
 * HIV/AIDS in Singapore's LGBT community
 * Paddy Chew
 * Avin Tan
 * Ajmal Khan
 * Calvin Tan
 * Adrian Tyler

=References=
 * Kong Sook Chin, "New centre to be set up to treat Aids", The Straits Times, 20 April 1985[].

=Acknowledgements=

This article was archived by Roy Tan.