Budget 2022: Our Take on 'Preventive Care'

Have you caught up on the latest national Budget for FY2022?

‘‘As one of the fastest-ageing nations in the world, our healthcare costs will increase significantly. Government healthcare expenditure has already tripled from $3.7 billion in 2010 to $11.3 billion in 2019. If our current healthcare spending, excluding COVID-19-related expenditure, continues to 67 increase at a similar rate over the coming decade, we will spend about $27 billion or around 3.5% of GDP by 2030.’’ – Finance Minister Lawrence Wong in his Budget speech on Feb 18, 2022

Surely, this should not come as a surprise to us – our rapidly aging population demands a robust healthcare ecosystem!

Yet, is this trend really sustainable? Probably not!

Indeed, Mr Lawrence Wong emphasised that ‘the current trajectory of increase is not sustainable’. Hence, it is crucial that we ‘fundamentally rethink the way we deliver healthcare’.

Undoubtedly, the increased healthcare cannot be avoided. However, our finance minister also stressed the need to ‘‘go upstream for preventive care and better manage chronic conditions’’ moving forward. Amongst this, Singapore’s primary care sector; our island-wide network of outpatient polyclinics and clinics, should serve as a sturdy foundation.

‘‘Instead of battling the relentless surge in costly chronic health complications as the population ages, a better way is to make it easier for people to manage their own health to reduce these complications’’, Mr Wong added.

And we absolutely agree!

KosmodeHealth had long recognised the problem of Singapore’s aging population, coupled with the high prevalence of diabetes. Especially due to Asia's staple of high-starch rice and noodles, and our increasingly sedentary lifestyle, diabetes had been a challenging chronic health condition to tackle.

That's why we formulated W0W® – a 0 starch, 0 blood sugar spike staple food with high-fiber and protein; a nutritious staple food high in fiber and protein that does not contribute to the increasing incidence of diabetes! Aiming to empower health and restore the pleasure in eating, W0W® is a highly versatile option that mimics your favourite starchy staples, without the starch!

However, reaping the full health benefits of W0W® requires long-term commitment and consistency! As Mr. Wong aptly concluded, ‘‘this will be a challenging long-term effort’’… but we are all in this together!

About W0W® noodles

W0W® noodles, spelt with a ‘0’ - is the only 0 starch, 0 blood sugar spike, 0 waste functional food that contains high fiber and protein. Upcycled from BSG (Barley Spent Grains) – a waste-stream of beer and malt production currently used as animal feed and plant fertilisers, W0W® noodles’ based ingredients consist of barley protein and fiber. It is a clean label, circular free fresh noodles formulated to ‘Empower Health and Restore Pleasure’ for diabetes patients, while being ‘Good for the earth and Good for the people’!

Refer to our Press Release of the Glycemic Response Study (showing that W0W® noodles did not raise blood sugar level), as clinically verified by Temasek Polytechnic.

Reference:

https://www.mof.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider3/budget2022/download/pdf/fy2022_budget_statement.pdf