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Food Poisoning & Ready to Eat Meals · Health Matters

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If it's a matter of health, it matters. Health Matters
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: with Daniel Martin. Welcome aboard Health Matters, everybody. I'm Danielle Martin,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and yes, your health matters. On today's edition, we have
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to talk about what's been discussed in Parliament right now.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It was brought up.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: A reminder of of the case of gastroenteritis being developed
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: after people ate some ready to eat meals that were
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: distributed as part of Total Defense Day.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu gave an
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: update that in total there were 187 cases of gastroenteritis
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: from that incident. Some students from School of the Arts
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: fell ill, and Ms. Fu updated and said that all
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: those affected were recovered and none had been hospitalized. Uh,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I believe two might have been older individuals as well,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: one was an older individual.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Um, she went on to say that the Singapore Food
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Agency has actually tested samples of the meals and did
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: not find any food-borne pathogens. It's trying to remind ourselves
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: about the issue of gastroenteritis and how likely it is
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to develop from something like ready to eat meals, which
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: The government has said in parliament today quite clearly that
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: we have to get used to the idea that this
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: will be a regular part of Singapore lifestyle as well.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Gastroenterologist Doctor Desmond W is joining us based at Mount
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Novena. Doctor Yi, hello, good to talk to you again.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Hi, Daniel, thanks for inviting me.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: How, when you hear 187 cases from one incident, um,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: is that, I mean, that's still not as bad as
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the TikTok ByteDance situation. I remember we talked about that
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Um, the central kitchen in that case, it wasn't ready
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to eat meal, but does 187 from one incident sound
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: like a lot to you?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's a lot, but frankly, I'm not surprised because
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: it's ready to eat food and they carry a potential danger.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: We always tell the patients the best way to protect
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: yourself is to cook yourself so that you make sure
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: that the food is well cooked and all the bacteria, viruses,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: whatever are being removed. So every time we eat ready
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: to eat food like in this case, or you go.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: The supermarket, you buy salad or you buy a bun,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: for example, you put it in your mouth. We are
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: at the mercy of the preparation of the food, so
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: we have to be used, we have to take, we
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: have to be used to the fact that every time
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: we take a risk of these foods, we run a
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: small risk that we may get some form of food.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: In general, in general, freshly prepared food that you've done yourself,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: you have more control over and also cook the food
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: that's cooked in front of you and you eat immediately
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: like at the hawker center, generally less chance as well.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: That's correct. So I always ask my patients, you want
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: to be safe. You see them cooking in front of you,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: either a soup noodle or fried rice or something like that.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: If they are say some, some vegetables store some mixed
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: vegetable rice store, for example, they put the food there,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: you be very sure that the food is being kept
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: outside for less than 2 hours, for example. So every
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: time we eat some food that beautiful for others, we
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: have to be ready. But this is not surprising.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Because in the United States, there have been regular recall
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: of food such as broccoli, bean sprouts, ham or cheese,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: because when the food are prepared somewhere during the manufacturing,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: the process, the personnel involved or the transfer process, sometimes
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: things can go wrong, so that we have to prepare
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: the first thing, first things will happen.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: So, OK, what is it that causes the gastroenteritis? Is
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: there a specific
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Pathogen in the food, is it the food has gone bad?
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: What is it that causes gastroenteritiss?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I told my patients when they, in fact,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I got two patients that came in today for diarrhea
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: and vomiting, so they got food poisoning or gastric fluid
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: layman term. I told them that it can be a virus,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: it can be a bacteria, it can be a parasite.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: From my experience in Singapore, usually it's a virus, and
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: the name of the virus is a norovirus. I see
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: this almost on a daily basis. What happened is that
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: when this when this virus entered the mouth, it will
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: go to the stomach. It would impair the movement of the.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: So the stomach don't move the food down from the
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: stomach to the duodenum and they vomit it out. The
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: virus can go to the small intestine and trigger off
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: a reaction, and they can have watery stool and lose motion.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: They have some tummy pain and fever. So that usually
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: in Singapore norovirus number one causation causative agent bacteria actually
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I would say less than 10%. We do see all
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: sorts of bacteria because, you know, Singaporeans love to travel
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  Speaker 2: and sometimes when they travel they bring the bacteria or
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: the virus back from overseas.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: So what is it about the food wherein a virus,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: a bacteria or a parasite has appeared in the food chain?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Is it, I mean, what are the various ways that
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: this can happen? Is it because it's been left out
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: too long and then it just develops? Is it because
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: an infected individual handles the food? What are the ways
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: in which it enters a ready to eat meal?
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so number one, he said the food has been
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: the ingredient, the raw ingredients have been contaminated, as I mentioned,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: in the US there have been bean sprouts, lettuce, there
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: been ham recall because they found contaminant with contamination with E. coli,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: for example. So it can be the raw ingredient or
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: it can be the process. It can a lot of
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: time it's actually the food handler or the manufacturer. So if,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: for example, I always give the example that if I
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: am having food poisoning, if
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I have virus in my stool and my vomiters, and
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I don't care about my hygiene. I wash my hands
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: with only water without soap or detergent, and then I
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: prepare a sandwich for you, then you will get it
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: for my dirty hand, not really from the sandwich, but
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: for my dirty hands for my poor hygiene. But on
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: the matter, actually the same food agency have very strict
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: rules on the food processing. For example, everybody has to
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: undergo a course on food hygiene, etc. and pass the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: course because they are.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: to work in the food industry and the moment they
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: have diarrhea or any form of illnesses, they have they
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: have a mandated medical leave. They are not allowed to
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: go to work and if they have something bad like salmonella,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: they are not allowed to work until they clear the bacteria.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: So we have very strict rules already and that's what's
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the best that the government protect us. And
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: your food is packaged and labeled as to the time
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: it was prepared as well, because the duration of shelf
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: life is also a factor here, is it?
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so every food they will put in a shelf life,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the rule of thumb is that if any food is
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: left open. Say for example, if I cook a big
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: dish of a crab bihoon, I leave it outside my
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: dining table, and guests come and try my crab bihoon.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: I should only keep it for less than 2 hours.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: If I leave any food for beyond 2 hours, they
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: can be contaminated and the time allowed the bacteria.
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  Speaker 2: Or the virus to multiply inside the food and they
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: can infect my guests. So therefore, if I cook a
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: big plate of crab hoon and invite you and invite
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: other friends to come over, I should actually put them
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: in small alecot. When you come, OK, you eat this portion,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: and 2 hours later my relative comes. I put I'll
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: bring it from the fridge, heat it up and serve
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  Speaker 2: it to them.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: the whole crap for more than 2 hours.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: That's
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a good tip in terms of entertaining as well. One
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: of our listeners, what's happening across at 963-11938 and talks
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: about whether Singapore's weather characterized by high temperatures and humidity levels,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: can that contribute to the survival and replication of some
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: of these viruses, bacteria, parasites.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, actually there have been studies that show that when
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: the when the temperature is humid or when it's warm,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: certain bacteria may actually multiply faster. But when the temperature
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: is cold, actually other viruses may replicate faster. So yes,
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  Speaker 2: our hot temperature probably make it easier for the bacteria
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: or the virus to multiply.
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  Speaker 2: But only for certain types. It increases certain types and
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: protect it from others. You still remember the rule of
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  Speaker 2: thumb of 2 hours. Any food that you are going
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: to leave you know for many people to eat, leave
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  Speaker 2: it outside for you should keep it for less than
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: 2 hours. Just keep the rest in the fridge. You
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: can warm it up when other guests other people come
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  Speaker 2: to eat,
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  Speaker 1: right.
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  Speaker 1: Because it's also sometimes, because we see a lot of
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  Speaker 1: mass events happening. And for mass events, you have to
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: provide food for the participants, for the people who are
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: attending the event, and that's where these prepackaged foods come
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  Speaker 1: into play. But the, the, the, the cold chain is
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  Speaker 1: also important, how it's handled and passed on just because
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  Speaker 1: it's wrapped up in those bags, sometimes you like you
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  Speaker 1: don't want to leave it lying on the side of
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  Speaker 1: the road or leave it lying next to the venue
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  Speaker 1: or where cars driving by, like, you know, it's also
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  Speaker 1: very important to
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  Speaker 1: Be very mindful about where one is keeping these in
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  Speaker 1: between collection and distribution to the individual. Having said that,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: looking at these 187 cases,
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  Speaker 1: You know, if it is about a handler that may
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: have been infected, it's doubtful that he or she would
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: have handled 187 packages of food. So a lot of
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: people think that oh maybe it was one of the
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: ingredients of uh of the meal components. But then Miss
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  Speaker 1: Graceful went on to say that the Singapore Food Agency
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: tested samples of the meal and did not find any
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  Speaker 1: food-borne pathogens. As a medical professional, what does this indicate
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: to you about where it could have come from then, hypothetically?
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  Speaker 2: Actually, as I say, it can be the ingredient, it
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: can be the food handler, it can be something wrong
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  Speaker 2: with the process. It can be something wrong with the
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  Speaker 2: packaging process, or maybe in the transfer process they are
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: subjected to too high or too low temperature. So for example,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: if if the coaching could be broken, but I understand
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  Speaker 2: this particular type of food I said are for emergency,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: and I understand that they can be kept at room
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: temperature for months if not years.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: It may not be so much for the coaching, yeah,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: but anyway, I'm grateful that the government actually acted very promptly.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: They announce it to the public so that whoever they
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: ate the same food on the civil defense day, they
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: can look up for the symptom of diarrhea. They didn't
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: cover up, they actually opened up very, very early in
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: the process. They also they also been doing investigation in
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: we actually take some time. What they need to do
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: is that, for example, if they say.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: 1000 packets of food to this particular school. So hundreds
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: maybe 20 people have it. The other 980 people don't
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: have it. They need to interview both sides to find
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: out can they pinpoint any particular factor compared the batch
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: of the food compared the people that handle the food
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: compared the ingredients whether they come from the same source,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: so it will take quite some time for them to investigate.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: We're very thankful, of course, that all the cases that
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: have been monitored here.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Um, I mean, bearing in mind, 184 were from the school,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: 2 were from active aging centers, and one from a
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: public agency. So it's a bit worrying when you hear
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: about young people and old people being affected by this,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: but the good news is, um, they all receive necessary
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: medical attention. Nobody went to the hospital or was nobody
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: was hospitalized for this as well. But when it comes
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: to gastroenteritis, there can be a range of impact, can
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: it not from, from mild to very severe.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I told my patients when they have got
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: food poisoning, food poisoning, there are 4 cardinal symptoms. They
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: are fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: That is, I mean, so when all 4 are happening,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: can all 4 happen at the same time?
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Uh, they, they, they sometimes they don't. So sometimes when
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: the patient may just come in for vomiting.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Then there can be many possibilities, but later on they
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: have pain, they have cramps, they have diarrhea, and they
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: feel feverish, they feel cold, they have a fever, then
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: we are sure. But to confirm the case of food poisoning,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: we have to actually send a stool for testing. We
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: now have a very accurate stool test. They can test
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: for bacteria, parasite, and virus. It costs about $500 to
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: $600 very.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Expensive, but I told my patient, you want to know
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: what happened or you don't want to know what happened.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Most patients say, I want to know what happened, even
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: if it's a virus. So I will do run the
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: test and we can get the accurate test results within
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: within a day. And that's how I realized that norovirus
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: is the commonest cause of food poisoning in my limited
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: personal experience in handling patients.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: And it's just circulating around Singapore, is it basically?
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, I have so much business for it to say
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: during the Chinese New Year. I have I have hypothesis,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: you know, if I come to your home to buy then, OK,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: and you offer me some love letters, I will just
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: say thank you very much. I pick it up on
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: my finger. I put it in my mouth, but I
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: could have been touching a lot of things from my
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: home to your home, like maybe a lift button, maybe
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: a doorknob, maybe the surfaces in the wall, whatever.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: And I do not know who had touched the service before.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: So during the Chinese New Year, I have a lot
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: of patients coming for no virus. That's one we, we
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: do have to wash hands before we put things in
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: your mouth.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: It's
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: also, right? You're all stand over there and then like,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: you know, you're saying these, these chants out into the
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: food basically.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: OK, saliva normally well because I have a patient coming
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: in to mean they are intimate with.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: sexual partner, the kids, and they don't both in the same,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: so I do not believe saliva per se is infectious,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: but the vomitters will be infectious. For example, if I
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: vomit out the stuff that I vomit out will have
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: the bacteria, the virus. If you are my mate, you
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: clean up and then you serve an apple to another person,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: then you can pass it to another person. But other
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: thing I told my patient is or the public is
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: that when you have food poisoning, you
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: not be admitted all the time. Look out for symptoms
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: of dehydration or severe infection. When you're having fever and
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: you're shivering, that may be a bad bacterial infection. You
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: should see a doctor as soon as soon as possible.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: And look at the signs of dehydration. When we are dehydration,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: we have a few symptoms. First, we don't pee or
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: the pee become very yellow or we are when we
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: are hypovolemic, then when we change posture like from a
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: sitting to a standard.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Position or lying to a standing when they change posture,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: we have not enough blood for the heart to pump
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: to the brain, so we feel dizzy or even faint.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: So when you change posture, you feel dizzy, that may
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: be a sign of dehydration. We noticed that you don't
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: pee for the whole day, then maybe you're very dehydrated.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: That's when you seek medical help.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Got it. So yeah, those are the red flags to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: look out for. Otherwise, if those red flags are not
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: showing up and it's the discomfort and the frequent visits
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to the toilet.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Can you self-medicate and do this on your own OTC stuff?
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, yeah, we so patient. I told my patient,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you need to be in the hospital when you, when you,
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: I mean you can be discharged when you eat more
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: than you poop. So obviously when you're not eating and
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: vomiting and you have 10 times diarrhea, you'll be dehydrated naturally.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: But if you are still able to eat or at
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: least
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Drink fluid and your diarrhea is say 3 or 4
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: times and you're still peeing. You don't feel dizzy when
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: you change posture, then you can just drink a lot
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: of fluid. I recommend nutrition to either drink coconut water.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Somehow we can well tolerate that or drink porish water.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Avoid taking milk or spicy food when you have a
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: gastroenteritis because they may sometimes make the diarrhea worse. And
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: how long can it persist
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: for?
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: OK, usually most of the food poisoning or viral habits
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: or viral gastroenteritis, we resolved completely by 7 days. We
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: don't keep them in the hospital for 7 days, normally
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: by day 2 or day 3 when they stop vomiting,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: they can drink and the diarrhea slows down, they can be.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Charge for those that have diarrhea or vomiting for more
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: than one week, we look for other funny stuff such
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: as Campylobacter, Clostridium difficile, or salmonella. So some bacteria may
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: last for more than a week, but most of the
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: viruses one normally resolve within a few days.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: C. diff also leads to this.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: C. diff can cause food poisoning and they can they
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: can have diarrhea for more than a week until we
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: get the right antibiotics.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's intolerable. Absolutely. And how do you figure out
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: which is the right antibiotic you have to go for
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: a test?
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Actually no need most of the time we get
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: And antibiotic, we have a certain guideline. the guidelines will
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: be quite safe, but we do need to do the
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: special stool test to figure out is it a virus
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: or bacteria. I would say that if you're still unwell
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: after 3 to 4 days, that may be a bacteria
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: and maybe seek medical help.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Dr. White, this has been invaluable. Thank you for your
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: time
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: today.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I confirm.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: OK. Good to
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: have you on board. Doctor Desmond Y is a gastroenterologist.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I've been interviewing him for over 15 years on my
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: health programs. He's based at Mount Elizabeth Novena. This has
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: been Health Matters.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Before making any decisions based on the information in our program,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: please consult a medical professional.