Fresenius Medical Care Opens First Community-Based Vascular Access Service in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Jun 9, 2016 - Fresenius Medical Care, the world's leading provider of dialysis products and services opens its first community-based Vascular Access Service for patients with chronic kidney disease in Singapore. Gan Kim Yong, Member of Parliament, Choa Chu Kang GRC participated at the recent opening ceremony at Fresenius Medical Care Teck Whye Dialysis Clinic.

Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Member of Parliament, Choa Chu Kang GRC (left) and Mr. Anthony Tann, Managing Director, Fresenius Medical Care Singapore (right) at the opening of the Vascular Access Service at Fresenius Medical Care Teck Whye Dialysis Clinic.

Around 70 percent of the Singaporean population is at risk of developing chronic kidney disease due to increasing diabetes and hypertension.¹ Currently almost 6,000 people receive life-saving dialysis therapy.² 

To ensure efficient treatment patients need an access to their bloodstream. This 'vascular access' is often referred to as the patient's 'lifeline'. Dr. Grace Lee, Medical Director at Teck Whye Dialysis Clinic explained during the opening ceremony that the vascular access allows the patient's blood to circulate to and from the dialysis machine to be cleansed while waste products and extra fluid are removed from the body. "The new Vascular Access Service from Fresenius Medical Care offers a one-stop day surgery facility that provides surgical creation of the vascular access for patients on hemodialysis. The pricing of the surgery has been made comparable to the restructured hospitals and patients can make claims from the national medical savings scheme Medisave."

"We want to offer chronic kidney disease patients the opportunity of a timely and affordable intervention for the creation of their vascular access. This is an important step towards 'Care Coordination', where we will provide a holistic treatment and care approach beyond dialysis", stated Anthony Tann, Managing Director of Fresenius Medical Care Singapore. To date nine patients got their vascular access created in the clinic.

Besides vascular access service and hemodialysis treatment Fresenius Medical Care's Teck Whye Clinic is offering additional new services such as peritoneal dialysis support service, as well as screening for diabetic complications in high-risk patients.

In his speech, Gan Kim Yong stressed on the importance of everyone's role in the 'War on Diabetes'. Every day four new cases of chronic kidney failure are diagnosed in Singapore. Many are caused by diabetes. "What is even more worrying is that one in three diabetics is unaware that they have diabetes. Therefore prevention and screening of diabetes, better disease control and management as well as public education and stakeholder collaboration to better care for diabetics is the key for Singaporeans", Mr. Gan concluded on the opening of the new Vascular Access Service. "I look forward to Fresenius Medical Care's contribution to the community here and to better serve our patients."

Moving forward, Fresenius Medical Care will continue to seek collaborations with the public and private sector to extend its services to provide integrated high standard holistic care to local renal patients.

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Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Member of Parliament, Choa Chu Kang GRC (left) and Mr. Anthony Tann, Managing Director, Fresenius Medical Care Singapore (right) at the opening of the Vascular Access Service at Fresenius Medical Care Teck Whye Dialysis Clinic.

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References:

1.     Vivekanand Jha, et al. (2013). Chronic kidney disease: global dimension and perspectives. The Lancet, Vol. 382, Issue 9888, Page 4 

2.     Singapore Renal Registry Annual Registry Report 1999 - 2014 (INTERIM)

ABOUT FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE:

Fresenius Medical Care is the world's largest provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases of which more than 2.8 million patients worldwide regularly undergo dialysis treatment. Through its network of 3,432 dialysis clinics, Fresenius Medical Care provides dialysis treatments for 294,043patients around the globe. Fresenius Medical Care is also the leading provider of dialysis products such as dialysis machines or dialyzers. Along with the core business, the company focuses on expanding the range of related medical services in the field of care coordination.

For more information visit the Company's website at www.freseniusmedicalcare.com