Prof started the session with a video showing possible advancement in technology in the future. Some examples featured in the video are all-in-one card with all the cards combined into one digital card and showing people the direction on how to get to their destination with digital arrows showing on the floor. I think that it will be really cool if all these innovations come true as it will be more convenient for us and the possibility of us getting lost is reduced. However, is it really possible for all these innovations to come true? Personally, I do not think so. Probably I should phrase it in a way that it will not come true in the next few decades but will probably come true in a century or so since we will never know what will happen in the future. By then, everything could be computerized? Another issue to be discussed is that if all these innovations come true, is it going to be more expensive? For sure, electricity bill will go up as electricity is needed to operate the machine 24 hours daily. However, do these innovations offset other costs? According to what the Prof said, it is going to be cheaper than now despite the rise in electricity bill. This is because more space is available for other purposes since we do not have to store paper anymore with everything computerized and more cost savings with less manpower hired to do any task.
I think that Prof mentioned something that I find it quite thought-provoking. To prepare for the future, one is actually sacrificing himself. When we are selfish and only think about our current consumption and benefits, we will never go beyond our current way of living or improve the current technology. Like what the old saying says, “No pain, no gain”, thus, for countries to prosper in the future, they will have to sacrifice by using less natural resources and doing more research for the sake of future generation. Even if they do not benefit from their actions, the future generation will definitely benefit from it. However, countries can only continue to prosper provided that the future generation is doing the same thing and taking the next generation into consideration.
Before this session, I had no idea what BioBusiness is or I probably only know the vague meaning of BioBusiness from the word “Bio” and ”Business”. After this session, I learnt that BioBusiness is a commercial activity based on understanding of life sciences and life science process. Some of the BioBusiness areas include Biomedical BioBusiness, Agri-Veterinary and Food BioBusiness , Environmental and Industrial BioBusiness and other BioBusiness activities. Prof gave some examples of each area. I was quite lost in some examples and only managed to catch some. One example that caught my attention was the spider-web protein under Industrial BioBusiness. Prof mentioned that spider-web has high tensile strength and can be used in many applications. Due to its usefulness, there are even hybrid goats with spider-web proteins to obtain these proteins in milk.
Prior to this session, I thought that insurance is good for us as it covers medical expenses should anything happen, reducing our burden on medical expenses. This session has changed my opinion of it. Insurance creates moral hazard and is being abused by many people. Some people may have the mentality that since they have paid for insurance, they should get the necessary coverage and they will try all their means to get it. They will also try to get the maximum amount they can get. Exploiting insurance can escalate the cost of insurance and deprive the people who really need the coverage from their insurance to cover their medical expense. A better way to solve all these problems could be providing incentives to people who try to stay healthy instead of compensating them for any medical injuries or illnesses. However, this can be a problem as one cannot control himself from getting an illness such as cancer or heart problem and this will be unfair to them.
I was quite glad in a way that by 2020, preventable disease would have dropped as medical research and technology improves and cures and preventions are found to cure diseases and even prevent them from happening. However, I think that not all diseases can be prevented as we will not know what will happen. The most we can do is to find the cure to the disease. Prof also mentioned that a small investment in research for cures and preventions can actually save many lives. This is really true and I think countries are pumping in money in this area.
Moving on to readings, I have learnt from reading one that not only should we have innovations, but we have to ensure that people have access to them. Usually, poor people have infected diseases because they are being deprived of healthcare and they do not have proper living conditions. These make them more susceptible to being infected by diseases. As they are poor, a greater proportion of their income is spent on healthcare. I also learnt the four different categories of healthcare such as primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary healthcare.
Primary healthcare – preventive and privately driven
Secondary healthcare – deal with simple diseases
Tertiary healthcare – hospitalized, made public unless no resources and government is unwilling to invest in it
Quaternary healthcare – specialized hospitals
I was quite shocked when I heard from the Prof that some people only get healthcare when they are very ill such as when they have to go to the Accident & Emergency (A&E) Unit. There is really a lack of logical utilization of their resources. Furthermore, by doing so, the patients actually incur more cost as they could have spent less when their illness is less serious. The number of people going to A&E can also be reduced. I think that the right of having access to healthcare is really important and everyone should be given the right. This reminds me that I should be glad that I am born in Singapore where healthcare is easily accessible.
The class then moved on to healthcare revolution and biomedical science revolution. I was also quite lost for some examples of these but I learnt about Nutraceuticals which are food-based and nutritional products that have medical benefits. Last part of the session was presentations. I find the presentations for this week rather interesting as different presenters cover different topics. I learnt that overuse of drugs accelerates evolution and effective drugs could be developed but are unavailable as they have to be tested. As a result, there might be a time lag as when the drugs are finally available, the virus or illness may have changed. This may make the drugs no longer that effective as compared to when it is first developed to combat the virus at that time.
One question posted by one of the presenters is that should doctors prescribe effective drugs to patients and risk evolution of superbugs. In my opinion, if the patient does not have any other option, I guess that taking the effective drugs is the only option and the patient will just give it a try as the patient has nothing to lose and taking the drug will at least give the patient a glimpse of hope as compared to not doing anything. Nevertheless, if the illness or disease is not that serious, doctors should not prescribe drugs that are not tested on humans. Drugs should be evaluated by all means of scientific research as well as undergo human testing. One question that comes to my mind is how to test the drugs on humans? Who should be tested? My answer is probably patients who have tried the drugs when that is their only option. If the drugs are proved to be effective on at least 10 patients, they can be considered safe. Nonetheless, drugs may have different effects on different patients depending on their body conditions and the severity of their illnesses.
One presenter also presented on Virob which is a micro-robot used in medical field. I did not hear of this micro-robot before and I find it rather interesting as it can be used to cure illness without really operating on the body. On the other hand, people will only dare to allow the Virob to enter the body to cure their illness if it can be taken out or dissolve. If there is uncertainty on how the Virob is removed, people will not choose this option to cure their illness as the effects of Virob on their body are unknown and people do not want to take the risk.
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