Monday, February 16, 2009

"SWITCH ON TO HEALTHCARE"

FOURTH GENERATION - DR FADZIL HAJI JAAFAR AND FAMILY: wife Hasnah Sulaiman. Sons Muhammad Hazmi Fauzi and Muhammad Helmi Fauzan, daughter (at the back) Nur Haidah Fatinah, eldest son Mohamad Hidir Fitri (hidden)

Mother: Hjh Saamah Hj Mohd Yusof
Father: Hj Jaafar Che'Man

“SWITCH ON” to HEALTHCARE

As we age, our bodies deteriorate and we tend to get afflicted with illnesses, some mild, some acute and some more sinister and chronic in nature. In Singapore, thanks to the abundant delicious foods, sedentary life (overwork and little exercise) 10 percent of us have diabetes and about 20 percent of us have high blood pressure. The sad fact is up to a third of us do not even know that we have these conditions and we harbour them until they damage our bodies and become very serious.

Our cars are meant to be used for 10 years before becoming scrap metal. Yet we send them to the workdshop for servicing every 6 months. Ironically, there are people out there who don’t bother about checking their health for as long as 2 years. So please, if you are over 40, see your doctor at least once a year for annual screening and act on the results if they are abnormal. I’ve had patients who were diagnosed with conditions based on the screening tests and they can’t believe the result and refused to act on them… then next year they are back again to do the same test!!!

For those of you who are already diagnosed with medical problems, do take your medicine consistently and try very hard to modify your lifestyle and diet to prevent complications. Ask your doctor on the targets of treatment and make sure that both you and your doctor try hard to achieve those targets. Doing this will cost more but you will hopefully prevent complications that would cost even more, need frequent hospitalisation and affect your quality of life in the future.

Do put things into perspective. If a pack a day smokers can spend over $300 a month on their cigarettes and families can spend thousands of dollars for a short holiday, is $100-$200 a month medical bill too much? What price/priority do we put on our health?

Remember that life is a journey. We can’t live forever. What we hope for is a healthy and functional life so that we can perform good deeds in preparation for the hereafter. It is not the medicines that we take that cure us, it is Allah. As Muslim that is what we believe; but we must make the effort to find the cure/control for our illnesses and then we DOA and tawakkal.

Wassalam

Contributor: Dr. Fadzil Hj Jaafar (Newsletter No. 001/6/06)
Email: drfadziljaafar@gmail.com

1 comment:

dzul said...

Yes,I'm with you on this. From my own personal experience, being an insulin diabetic for the last 17 years or so really made me more conscious and aware of maintaining good health. I think I am a lot healthier now than before I was diagnosed. I go for my twice a year check-up with my Diabetes Specialist, once a year dental and once a year eye tests. Over the years, I pretty much have maintain and manage my diabetes quite well. My HbA1c is 6.4% and a constant healthy weight. I learn about good, healthy and balanced nutritions to maintain good health and energy level for the "long haul". Yes, it is our duty and responsibility to look after our own long-term well-being. People always think it's expensive to spend money on maintaining health but it's a lot more expensive being sick and unhealthy. You're not wrong. I truly belief "Prevention is better than cure". And it all boils down to what we feed our body, good nutrition or junk, our choice! Thank you for sharing.
Wasalam,
Hassan (Dzul)Md Pilus.