Risk Assessment, Prevention and Health Promotion before the Onset of Diseases
Taiwan has a world-famous healthcare system which was rated as the best among 89 countries. Dr Yang Pan-Chyr, the Vice President of the IBMI, expressed that Taiwan has many advantages. He pointed out that precision medicine is moving towards to precision health, which could be an exciting prospect of the big health industry.
Taiwan’s Healthcare is Ranked First among 89 Countries
According to Dr Yang, the precision health process starts from risk assessment whose results can be applied to disease prevention and health promotion. This is then followed by early detection and precision treatments. The focus of precision medicine is shifted from “precision treatment” which works after the onset of a disease to “precision health” which emphasises on risk assessment, prevention and health promotion beforehand.
Dr Yang stressed that the health professionals should be forward-looking. Patients’ symptoms are only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath, there are important health-related issues. Health professionals should try to prevent the disease through screening, risk assessment and health promotion.
The NTUH has been engaging in the development of the whole genome sequencing tests. Previous studies show that one in ten cancer patients inherits the condition from parents. About 1% of them have major mutation in certain genes. Mutations in certain genes can also be found in patients with cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes and obesity. Doctors can carry out risk assessment and take precautionary measures for preventing the diseases.
The Taipei VGH has developed a procedure to predict the relapse of cancer by examining patient’s blood using chips and photography technology.
Taiwan Healthcare + Expo Brings Together Key Players
The 2019 Taiwan Healthcare + Expo opened on the 5th in NanGang Exhibition Center. Over 500 companies and hospitals from 12 countries participate in this event, which is expected to attract over 100,000 people to attend.
Dr Yang pointed out the three major forces driving the development of the big health industry in Taiwan: advanced healthcare, high quality bio R&D and manufacturing, and strong IT & communication technology. The IT industry has a combined annual revenue of NT$12.6 trillion. If the industry would allocate 1% of the revenue to the health-related fields, it will further push the R&D activities in the health industry. The government should relax the regulations of accessing health and clinical data and create a flexible and friendly regulatory environment.
【2019-12-06 / Liberty Times】
