Geriatric specialist Dr Wong Sweet Fun doesn’t see the end of life as a medical failure. Rather, it’s like “watching a beautiful sunset”. The senior consultant of Geriatric Medicine at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) is inspired by the holistic nature of her medical specialty, making her approach both compassionate and pragmatic.
The 63-year-old “always wanted to be a doctor”, she told CNA Women, ever since she was eight years old. Why geriatrics? “The sadness, sorrow and helplessness in watching younger patients slip away is too much for me, compared to the tender yet accepting understanding of life coming to an anticipated end for older adults,” she said. As Singapore gets progressively older – by 2030, about one in four citizens will be aged 65 and above – society needs to trial new ways of looking at senior healthcare.
This is where Dr Wong and her knack for design thinking comes in, even though healthcare isn’t quite the first industry one would associate with design. Her initiatives have gained international recognition for their design excellence. Between 2012 and 2016, a series of national masterplans was developed to help Singapore prepare for the silver tsunami, creating an environment ripe for innovation in healthcare design.
The Healthcare 2020 Masterplan (in 2012), the Action Plan for Successful Ageing (in 2015) and Design 2025 (in 2016) set the stage, and Dr Wong’s programmes serendipitously gained traction as a result. The masterplans, sa.