to the Singapore Health Promotion Board. The board has a few suggestions to get started.

* Thermometer – Either the traditional glass type or the new electronic kind is an important tool for monitoring fever.

* A small torch – This can be used to find small objects embedded in an ear or nostril, and to look at the back of the throat.

* Materials for treating small wounds – Cotton swabs, antiseptic solution, antibiotic ointment, gauze bandages and adhesive tape to secure it, and bandage scissors.

* Tweezers – For removing splinters and things lodged in the skin.

* Simple medications – Paracetamol, antacids, antihistamines for allergies and runny nose, cough medicine and diarrhea medicine.

After stocking your kit with the basics, customize it with special items your family might need. such as inhalers for asthma. Remember that first aid is simply the first application of care. Keep emergency phone numbers nearby to call in the professionals for serious problems.

Singapore prides itself with having world-class medical facilities, with 11 JCI accredited hospitals. It has a chiefly English-speaking population and is well known for its clean and green structured environment. Many of the doctors and staff have also been trained in major medical centres in the United States and Europe.

Whilst medical costs in Singapore are considerably lower than in the West, they are more expensive compared to some of the surrounding Asian countries, such as Thailand and India. However, Singapore has managed to successfully brand itself above the competition, offering a wide spectrum of health care services in every major field of medicine. Singapore has developed a reputation for it’s expertise in Neurosurgery, Cardiology, Opthalmology, Oncology and Dental Services.

The Singapore Tourism Board works with various travel agencies and health care providers, to provide foreign patients with attractive and affordable health packages. These include air-port transfers, booking of specialist appointments, hospital stays, sight-seeing arrangements etc.

The Parkway Group of Hospitals (Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth and East Shore Hospitals) is a major service provider in the field of medical travel. Together with Raffles Hospital, Mount Alvernia and the Government-linked Restructured Hospitals (Alexandra Hospital, Singapore General Hospital, National University Hospital, Changi General Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital), they provide a comprehensive and competitive range of services to foreign patients. Most hospitals now have dedicated International Call Centres to cater to this growing demand.

Medical tourism is set to continue growing in the years to come. As the Baby Boomers get older, and more medical issues present themselves, they represent a vast market for high quality, affordable health care. Another factor which favours the growth of the industry is the fact that as many as 43 million Americans are without health insurance and 120 million without dental coverage, who are likely to seek out more affordable healthcare

Quote from Singapore Health Promotion Board’s Nutrition FAQ: The use of slimming products may lead to relatively fast weight loss initially. Many slimming products contain bioactive substances that suppress appetite, stimulate metabolism or induce water loss from the body. It is not safe to use these products without medical supervision. Moreover, slimming products are usually expensive and do not help change the overweight individual’s eating and exercise behaviors that are the root causes of weight gain. This makes maintenance of weight loss difficult.

Enough said.

With regards to numerous slimming salons using body wraps, infrared or electro stimulation devices etc – must you really be educated to realise that all these don’t work? Please don’t fall victim to their intensive marketing tactics. If they really work, why do they spend so much money on advertisements mostly showing astonishing ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures and slim figures of celebrities but little or no scientific information about their fat loss devices?

Wait. Didn’t recent TV programs show normal Singaporeans losing weight after visiting beauty salons? How do you explain that? Well, these slimming salons know their stuffs don’t work, so now they’re getting smart enough to recruit some personal trainers and nutritionists to ‘preach’ healthy living. So on top of their dubious fat loss gimmicks (where the real bucks are rolling in), they have their clients exercise and diet. Without a doubt, exercise and diet worked, and weight loss resulted. At www.PT.com.sg we offer the same services (without the body wrap nonsense of course!) at a fraction of the cost.

Seriously, only lazy people wanting a quick fix would visit these salons. But the thing is that they don’t even provide a quick fix! You’ll only get ripped of.

Here’s a very informative report compiled by the Federal Trade Commission of the United States Of America – Deception In Weight-Loss Advertising Workshop:

Seizing Opportunities and Building Partnerships to Stop Weight-Loss Fraud. A panel of experts discusses and analyses claims made by manufacturers, citing scientific references to show how these claims are false and misleading the public. The claims include:1. Consumers who use the advertised product can lose substantial weight without reducing caloric intake and/or increasing their physical activity2. Consumers who use the advertised product can lose substantial weight while still enjoying unlimited amounts of high calorie foods3. The advertised product will cause permanent weight loss4. The advertised product will cause substantial weight loss through the blockage of absorption of fat or calories5. Consumers who use the advertised product can safely lose more than three pounds per week for a period of more than four weeks6. Users can lose substantial weight though the use of the advertised product that is worn on the body or rubbed into the skin7. The advertised product will cause substantial weight loss for all users

8. Consumers who use the advertised product can lose weight only from those parts of the body where they wish to lose weight

Find them familiar? Read them in ads on the papers or on television lately?Please do take time to read the full report: Losing fat ain’t easy. Nobody said it is. Only hard work and smart dieting will help you achieve your goals. Another important key is to change your eating behaviors and adapt to healthy eating so that the weight will be put off for good. Please do show your friends and family the reports and help to prevent any more fellow Singaporeans from falling into the traps of these useless companies!