Urgent need for a large wedding hall(Kalyana mandabam) & cultural centre

Urgent need for a large wedding hall(Kalyana mandabam) & cultural centre.
It is very gratifying to note from the publication in the Straits Times home page b12 of May 19, 2010, titled “Boost for Hindu board” that Hindu Endowment Board will be able to form companies and Joint ventures which will enhance incomes and promote beneficial activities to the people as stated by community Development, youth and sports minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. KUDOS to the minister and the HEB. The minister timely primed on the long-awaited vision that the Hindu Endowment Board would be able to form companies and joint ventures to enhance and promote beneficial activities to the community.

One of the ways to achieve this, according to my thinking is to develop the land within the Perumal temple complex in Serangoon Road into a large cultural and commercial hub. I have seen many marriages and other cultural activities with large participation of relatives and guests of the wedding parties and interested groups packed inside the available kalyanamandapams (wedding halls) at the main temples of Singapore. With thousands of people squeezing their way through at the prevailing wedding halls and with increased awareness of culture and religion among the prevailing citizens of Singapore and the newly arrived, the temple activities have gone up exponentially. For example, certain marriages have thousands over guests whereas the various halls in Singapore can accommodate only half or much less than that. To reinforce the point, presently marriages and other religious and cultural functions witness thousands of people packed like sardines inside the available wedding halls at the majority of the temples of Singapore. The cultural shows also attract a larger number of people sometimes over a few thousand. But often it is difficult to get a proper a place and whenever it is available the charges are too exorbitant. If we have a Kalyana Mandhabam and cultural complex to accommodate thousand to three thousand people, this can be given in Toto for a function or even divided into smaller function rooms when there are many such events taking place concurrently be it on weekdays or weekends. Moreover cultural exhibits, artifacts and other activities also can take place in the same place.

The rentals from these events will be substantial and can maintain these halls and theaters. I would strongly advise the ministry of youth and sports together with the Hindu Endowment board and other interested parties to consider this idea seriously and work on it quickly in the Singapore style. Indeed, programmes including marriages of other faiths should also be allowed to make use of the facilities in the true spirit of racial , religious and ethnic harmony as well as integration of existing and newly arrived Singaporeans. Multi story building with underground car park facilities will be the best scenario.

An example is the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Center in Mauritius. It has 17,000sq meters of flexible space which has a convention center, business centre and room facilities. This hall is usually portioned from time to time into different halls to accommodate many faceted activities. It has complete on-site A/V services, moveable partitions to transform the main hall, Indoor Pyrotechnics, Simultaneous Translation Facilities, ATMs and foreign Currency Facilities, Telephone facilities in all meeting rooms and Décor and floral arrangements. It can accommodate 3500 over people, has 10 meeting rooms with independent lighting and 2 permanent registration desks. There are also kitchen facilities to accommodate catering and facilities for disabled persons. It also has Outside broadcast and video taping facilities, Data points in Meeting rooms and Information Kiosks.

Similarly Sree Swaminarayan Mandir, Naesdon London is another model that we can look into. It can accommodate over 4000 people has 50m by 45m in area; the hall has no columns and allows natural light to enter through 4 light wells. It has a kitchen which is fully equipped with modern technology and has been adapted to suit traditional styles of cooking.
Perhaps the Singapore model can be made even better than these and can remain a financially viable world class model as a true heart and soul of the Singapore Indian community.
Dr. V P Nair
Consultant Cardiologist
Tel 62359226, mobile 98460910
Nair Cardiac Medical Centre
Mount Elizabeth medical Centre # 16-08
Singapore 228510

Dr Nair at work

PTCA & Stenting by Dr V P Nair (Radial/ Brachial artery)

PTCA & Stenting by DR V P Nair(Groin approach)

Dr Nair's Russian card

Кардиологический и Общемедицинский центр

Доктора В.П.Наир

Доктор В.П.Наир

Главный консультант-кардиолог

MD, Член Royal College of Physicians (Великобритания), член Royal College of Physicians (Ирландия)

Выпускник Медицинской академии по специальности кардиология (Сингапур), Royal College of Physicians (Ирландия) и Royal College of Physicians (Великобритания), выпускник Royal College of General Physicians (Великобритания), выпускник International College of Angiology (США) и American college of Cardiology ( США).


Mt. Elizabeth Medical Centre Тел.+65-6235-9226

3, Mount Elizabeth +65-6235-9228

# 16-08 (16 этаж) Факс +65-6235-4509

Singapore 228510 +65-6468-7286

После рабочего времени +65-6533-0088

+65-6535-88-33

E-mail: lordsiva@starhub.net.sg or doctor_nair@hotmail.com

Webpage: www.naircardiaccentre.com & http://www.cardiology-nairclinic.com/

Blog: http://www.heartandyou.blogspot.com/

Eating habit and life style - main contributing factors in Cardiac rehabilitation program

Eating habit and life style - main contributing factors in Cardiac rehabilitation program (English Translation of Article Published in Lian He Zao Bao -- April 11, 2010)

Consultant interventional cardiologist Dr V. P Nair (Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre) said that high levels of lipids ( cholesterol and triglycerides) as well as saturated oils and trans fats in the food are bad to our health. They can cause elevation in blood cholesterol level, increase the chance of coronary artery blockage and therefore lead to heart attack and stroke. Eating habits and life style are the main contributing factors in cardiac rehabilitation program.

Many middle aged people would have already been suffering from heart diseases which may be silent in some cases. The most common heart diseases are coronary artery diseases (leading to heart attack), septal defects (holes in the heart), valve diseases, arrhythmias ( heart rate irregularities), heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy and myocarditis) , hypertension 9 elevated blood pressure), heart failure (water in the lungs)and thyroid heart disease( too much or too little thyroid hormone).

With different types of heart disease, and modern life style, Dr V. P Nair (Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre) pointed out that in general there is an increasing trend of heart diseases, especially coronary heart disease. However, with early detection through health screening, better control of risk factors, and advanced technology , cases of coronary artery diseases can be reduced. But as the general population is getting older, all types of heart disease, including arrhythmias, ischemic heart disease, diabetes induced coronary artery disease and degenerative heart disease, will still be increasing. Dr Nair said, “hypertension, smoking, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, obesity, lack of exercise, stress and family history are the main risk factors (cause) of coronary artery disease.

Change in life style and eating habits
Through regular checkups, once a person is found to have heart disease, he/she must change his/her life style and eating habits, engage in more regular exercise, quit smoking, eat wisely and avoid being obese. People suffering from hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes must control their condition well in order to be healthy. Dr Nair advises patients with heart disease to manage their stress through exercise like Yoga, Taiji, and family outing etc as it is good for their health.

Dr Nair described a 55 years old patient with heart disease. He said, “when the patient came to see me, he was having severe chest tightness. Symptom radiated to his neck and arm. He had nausea and he was also sweating profusely. . He also suffered from hypothyroid heart disease treated him for 3 years. He also suffered from other problems like renal disease, chronic backache and spinal disease . He used to smoke 50 cigarettes per day and drink alcohol occasionally. He has family history of hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease as well. I performed coronary angioplasty which showed severe blockage of two heart arteries ( coronary arteries). I treated him with balloon angioplasty and two medicated stents (drug eluting stents). After the surgery, he exercises regularly and controls his diet well, and he is now living in a very healthy state and happily working.

He also gave another case, “another patient who is a bus driver. He suffered from heart attack when he was only 28 years old. He was a heavy smoker, loved meat and eggs, and also has family history of heart disease. One day he had severe chest pain and fainted at home. He was diagnosed as a case of heart attack after ECG and blood tests. , His blood cholesterol especially the bad cholesterol (LDL) was very high, but HDL (good cholesterol) was low, his triglycerides level was also elevated.. He was treated with bypass surgery ( CABG) for him. After he was discharged from hospital, I advised him to change his job, quit smoking, start regular exercise, and take care of his health. 10 years later, he had another heart attack; I did coronary artery ballooning with stent inserted. He recovered well and is still living healthily.”

Dr V. P Nair said that prudent eating habit and healthy life style are the main contributing factors in cardiac rehabilitation programme. High cholesterol, saturated and trans fat in the food are bad to our health. They can cause elevation in blood cholesterol level, increase the chance of coronary artery blockage; and therefore lead to heart attack and stroke .

Exercise 3 to 5 times a week
Across all parts of Asia, the prevalence of obesity and type II diabetes continue to climb. The numbers of obese children are increasing, and all these are risk factors for future heart attack. Dr Nair emphasized that we must see the importance of exercise. It is an effective way to reduce weight and prevent heart attacks. Aerobic exercises, like brisk walking, jogging, swimming, riding bicycle, dancing, games etc, are good in improving the health of coronary vessels and overall heart condition. In addition, weight lifting, carrying dumb bell, and push-up are good ways to train both skeletal and cardiac muscles. We must maintain weekly exercise 3 to 5 times a week , and 30 to 60 minutes each time in order to be effective. Relaxation in any form is good to control stress and anxiety.

Sexual life post recovery
Will people who had suffered heart attack continue to have normal sexual life?
Dr Nair said, as long as patients pass the initial phase of recovery, they can continue to enjoy sexual life. “Many people think that after heart attack, sex may cause further heart attack and even death, but this is incorrect. However, anxious about sexual performance and depression are the main factors influencing their sexual life.”
Patients recovering from heart attack usually will experience different degrees of depression, and it is quite normal. Usually 85% of suffers will be free of symptoms of depression after three months. Regular medications, exercise dieting and relaxation will certainly help them to get over this problem.

Mailing Address of Dr. V. P. Nair,
MBBS, MRCP-Ireland, MRCP-UK, FAMS (Cardiology-Singapore)
FRCP-Edinburgh, FRCGP-UK, FRCPI, FRCP (London), FACC (USA), FESC, PBM
Consultant Cardiologist
Mt Elizabeth Medical Centre, 3 Mt Elizabeth, #16-08, Singapore 228510
Tel no: 62359226/8 Fax no: 62354509
Email: lordsiva@starhub.net.sg

World Nutrition, Health & Disease Conference 2009

World Nutrition, Health & Disease Conference 2009
Held in conjunction with Asia Food Technology, @ Singapore Biopolis. 20 July 2009:
Excerpts from the Keynote address.

Dr. V.P. Nair, PBM: MBBS, MRCP (UK), MRCP (Ireland), FRCGP (UK), FRCP (Edinburgh) FRCP (Ireland) FAMS (Cardiology, S`pore) FICA (USA) FACC (USA) FESC (Europe) FRCP (London)
Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist,
Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, # 16-08, Singapore

Singapore is a melting-pot of cultures and therefore also a melting-pot of numerous eating delights, often with a fusion of food philosophies. At the same time we give importance to good eating habits and nutrition.

About 250 years ago, Ben Franklin, coined the phrase “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. He did not know then that apples contain vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants such as flavanoids and polyphenols with some beneficial effects on heart disease and cancer. Some of the components found in apples are known to be anti-allergenic; some are anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral. The apple story is only an anecdote to the wider concept of basic food, nutrition and caloric requirements of our body. Recently Soursoup also has been found to be as good if not better than apple.

The issue of nutrition, health and disease has been for a long time the focus of scientific research and development. Even though this has led to major advances in nutritional values, preservation and storage capabilities are much more needed in the development, dissemination and application of food technology. We have to overcome growing health challenges faced by humanity, as we enter the second decade of the 21 century. As of July 2009, the Earth's population as estimated by the United States Census Bureau is 6.78 billion. By 2050, the population may reach 9 billion. By then world food shortage will become critical due to water shortage, climate changes , deforestation , global warming as well as increase in population, unless consistent corrective measures are made by the governments and the people.

Today, two-thirds of all deaths in America, Europe and Singapore are due to heart disease and cancer. However in Africa, most of Asia and Latin America, infectious diseases are still the commonest cause of mortality and morbidity. With the worldwide increase in life span due to better health care, housing, immunization, hygiene and sanitation; disorders specific to the ageing population will become more common. 50 years ago, majority of the world’s population died before the age of 50. In 1996, the average global life expectancy reached 65, while the average life expectancy in industrialised countries was 80. Life expectancy in Singapore is the 5th best in the world being above 80. The paradigm has therefore shifted significantly in the last 5 decades.

I mentioned the previous facts as a prelude to my presentation. As a Cardiologist, my primary focus is on the medical treatment of health-related issues. It is important not only to treat diseases after they manifest, but also to prevent their occurrence as well. Apart from medical therapy, a large part of patient care is also dependent on the adherence to a healthy lifestyle and good nutrition. The two are complementary and synergistic. You will no doubt hear more about this from our distinguished panel in the ensuing lectures and scientific papers. I will therefore deal predominantly with the medical aspect of this topic.

In the medical fraternity, we often treat diseases with overt symptoms. But there are many conditions that exist, without symptoms. High blood pressure is one of them. It may not have any symptoms and it may be detected only by a chance blood pressure reading at a routine physical examination. If untreated, it can cause damage to the heart, brain, eyes and the kidneys. Almost one third of American adults and 1 in 7 Singaporean adults have hypertension. Hypertension and diabetes are one of the leading causes for kidney failure, heart disease, stroke and blindness world-wide. The biggest culprit within this spectrum is Coronary heart disease, or disease of the heart arteries, where lipid plaques block the epicardial arteries of the heart.


The recognized risk factors for coronary heart disease are, tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia manifested as high levels of bad cholesterol (LDL or low density lipoprotein - the lousy cholesterol) and low levels of good cholesterol (HDL or high density lipoprotein - the healthy cholesterol), diabetes, advancing age, male gender, obesity, family history of heart disease, sedentary life style, chronic stress and in some cases elevated blood homocystine levels. These risk factors need to be identified promptly and treated appropriately.

Assessment for the detection of coronary artery disease include history, physical examination and certain basic investigations such as Electrocardiography (ECG), blood tests and special tests such as a Treadmill exercise stress test, numerous imaging modalities such as Echocardiography, Multi-slice CT scan of the heart and the gold standard Coronary Angiogram.

Once this has been done, the blocked arteries can be treated with medications, ballooning (angioplasty), stenting or bypass surgery. New medications, off pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts, and Drug Eluting Stents have revolutionized treatment of coronary artery disease and improved quality of life significantly. As mentioned earlier, nutrition and a healthy lifestyle have a major part to play in the treatment of heart disease in addition to the interventions mentioned.

Almost 2 decades ago, in the Straits Times interview I coined the phrase “the longer the belt line, the shorter the life line” as a means to remind the public about the importance of abdominal obesity and its connection to one’s longevity. This adage has now been proven true worldwide in the subsequent years. Most notable, was a study by a group of cardiologists led by Dr. James de Lemos at the University of Texas and reported in the American College of Cardiology on 14 August 2007. Using MRI and other tests after a long-term study of 2744 people, a direct relationship was found between waist size and early indications of heart disease, regardless of patient’s overall weight and some other risk factors.

Obesity is an undesirable outcome of overeating and lack of exercise. It is postulated that one’s waistline circumference should be less than 80 cm for women and 90 cm for men. A person’s waist-to-hip ratio, sometimes described as “Gut to Butt ratio”, should be less than 1 for men and below 0.8 for women. Similarly one’s Body Mass Index (BMI) should be kept below 25kg/m2, as proposed by the WHO. However, for people of Asian origin, a BMI of below 23kg/m2 is desirable.

Science has proven that a heart healthy diet is one with relatively unprocessed foods with veggies, fruits, grains such as rice or wheat that retain some of their original kernel. Rice bran is the outer brown layer of the rice kernel. Such 'whole' foods became scarce in Western diets. Some eggs, liver or fish are also vital for most of us indeed in limited amounts. But excess intake of red meat high in animal fat including cholesterol and saturated fats and consumption of pure sugars leads to coronary heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers and dental caries.
During food processing, such as mass production of flour or noodles, we lose 60-90% of most healthy vitamins. We degrade proteins by deep-frying and our factories hydrogenate oil which first zaps all omega-3 by trans-forming it into toxic trans-fat. Most single nutrient diseases like scurvy, beriberi and goiter were wiped out by food fortification, our 'weapon of mass nutrition' in the last few decades. Processed foods low in many nutrients such as vitamins B6, B12, folic acid and vitamin D, may lead to “Long-Latency Deficiency Diseases”, such as heart disease, cancer, bone loss and Alzheimer's dementia.

We should therefore be more careful with our sources of food and how they have been processed. Good nutrients that have been removed also need to be replaced. So exercise regularly, eat healthy food, relax and remember my punch line “the longer the belt line, the shorter the life line”.

Thank You