Dr. Edwin Wong, Founder of RMDY Clinic, Explains The Importance of Preventative Care

The RMDY Clinic, pronounced as Remedy Clinic, is a Singapore-based medical and wellness centre. Their primary focus is on preventative healthcare through holistic and integrative approaches that integrate lifestyle, nutritional, and medical factors. For many, going to the doctor has a negative connotation since they associate it with being sick. It is no secret that while many individuals make monthly aesthetic appointments such as facials or hair appointments, most people only consider seeing a doctor when they are sick or are experiencing symptoms that give them concern. Dr. Wong, the founder of RMDY Clinic, has founded the clinic in effort to shift this thinking and inspire greater action toward preventative care. This is to help allow people to take control of and maintain their ideal state of health and wellness.

Filled with curiosity about RMDY Clinic, Glitz has sat down with Dr. Edwin Wong to find out more about his efforts to create RMDY, as well as what sets it apart from traditional clinics in Singapore and all over the world. Scroll down to read our insightful interview!

Interview With Dr. Edwin Ong, Founder of RMDY Clinic

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Interview With Dr. Edwin Ong, Founder of RMDY Clinic

About Dr. Edwin Wong

Who is Dr. Edwin Wong?

I graduated from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and returned home to pursue my career in medicine. I entered private practice in 2016 and have been serving patients as a General Practitioner ever since. I find primary care immensely rewarding and enjoy the continuity of care that I am able to provide my patients. Some of my long-term patients have practically become my friends. When they visit they usually share with me about what’s new in their lives – the trips they have taken, career changes, and so on. I feel a great sense of achievement when I am able to work together with my patients to resolve their medical issues.

Outside of work, I’ve been an avid sportsman since I was young. In my free time, I play basketball, golf, wakesurf and love scuba diving. To date I have completed over 450 dives around the world.

What sparked your interest to explore men’s, women’s, and sexual health?

I think that men’s, women’s and sexual health are some niche areas of family medicine that many GPs and patients alike tend to often overlook. Some of these topics are uncomfortable for people to address and they often avoid thinking or talking about it, so a lot of trust needs to be built. Patients also usually have less insight into these areas of their health, which gives me an opportunity to have meaningful discussions with them and in doing so develop long lasting patient-doctor relationships.

About RMDY Clinic

What inspired you to build RMDY?

Preventive care, men’s health, women’s health and sexual health are all broad topics that require time to discuss. Also, patients need time to feel comfortable and open up when describing any intimate aspects of their health. It has been challenging to cover these topics in the way that I’d like to approach them, in a traditional fast-paced GP setting. The inspiration to build RMDY therefore stems from a desire to provide quality care that patients deserve, and this also forms part of our philosophy.

What sets RMDY apart from other clinics out there?

Traditionally, visiting a clinic and seeing a doctor is associated with being sick and requiring curative healthcare. Essentially this is a reactive approach towards healthcare.

RMDY takes a proactive approach instead. We want to encourage you to take charge of your own health by visiting us even when you are well. Our focus is on preventive care and helping to optimise the health of our patients. With that being said, of course we’ll see you if you are unwell too!

What do you aspire for RMDY to grow into?

We are building RMDY into a full-service preventive care and wellness network, one that starts off a patient’s journey within the medical sphere, complemented by nutrition, physiotherapy, fitness and wellness programs.

Preventative Care

How do you plan to encourage others to be more keen towards preventative care?

I like to use analogies when I want to get a message across, and in this case preventive care is just like how you take care of your car.

Most people would make it a point to send their car in for servicing immediately once the alert message shows up on their dashboard. If your mechanic then tells you there are certain parts that are worn out and need replacing, usually you would get it done because you want your car to run smoothly and not have it fail on you. You wouldn’t just keep using your car daily and wait for it to break down in the middle of the road before getting it towed to the workshop, would you?

Sexual Health

In Singapore, there still lies a layer of taboo when it comes to sexual health. In your opinion, why is sexual health an important topic to discuss, specifically for the younger generation?

It is extremely important to spread awareness about sexual health for the younger generation. Teenagers and young adults will soon enter into a stage of their lives where they start to learn about sex and become sexually active. Having knowledge about sexual health helps to possibly prevent:

Unwanted pregnancies. Engaging in positive sexual practices and appropriate usage of birth control can help prevent an unwanted pregnancy, which often times can be a highly distressful situation.
Sexually transmitted infections. Safe sex practices include condom usage, avoiding high risk sexual behaviour such as casual sex, and regular STI screening. While most STIs can be treated and cured, what many people fail to keep in mind is that some STIs can cause serious health problems if left undiagnosed and untreated, for example HIV and Syphilis.

Dr. Ong’s Recommendation

What are some services in RMDY that you would recommend on one’s first visit?

I would recommend my patients to consider Health Screening and Men’s/Women’s Health services, as these services would apply to practically any patient coming through our doors.

Having said that, every patient is unique and has their own individual needs and concerns. Therefore we take a customised approach to every patient in order to work out the tests or treatments they require.