Dr Lee agreed: “Do you know how many mammograms you have to read to become a breast radiologist? It’s 920 mammograms in two years – that’s just slightly more than one a day. Here, we have two radiologists that only look at breasts – they read 9,600 mammograms in one year and that’s only at Paragon.”
With time and specialised expertise on their side, the team at SBSC can ensure a more precise diagnosis and treatment plan for patients. For example, when a patient is undergoing a lumpectomy or surgical biopsy, a pathologist can be assigned to check the removed tissue for cancer cells on the spot.
This prevents a “revolving door with the operation theatre”, said Dr Lee.
“WE HELP EACH OTHER”
The three doctors told CNA Women it had been a relief to shed the multiple roles that came with running their own private practices.
“When we were running our solo clinics, we had to be the doctor, the CEO and the CFO. We didn’t want to do that anymore. We wanted to concentrate on being good doctors,” said Dr Tan, adding that Jeng and his team at TE Asia Healthcare run the business side of the operation.
Said Dr Lee: “The difference here is how flat it is – there is no hierarchy at all. TE backs us – it trusts anything we decide to do.”
For example, the centre is assigning resources to a research programme in partnership with the South Korean company that created Mastocheck, a blood test that can help improve the accuracy of breast cancer diagnosis.
The current version of Mastocheck identifies three proteins in the patient’s blood that indicate the presence of breast cancer. The South Korean company, Bertis, is working on an “improved version … looking at something like nine proteins”, shared Dr Tan.
As part of the programme, SBSC will study the efficacy of this new version on the Singaporean population.