The screening programme was rolled out by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) at general practitioner clinics last year.

Targeted at Singaporeans aged between 40 to 69, the tests are aimed at diagnosing common chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol early so that they can be treated to forestall life-threatening and costly complications such as heart disease and stroke.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in an addendum to the President's address on Wednesday that the national integrated screening programme will be expanded to cover more conditions, including colorectal cancer.

'We will develop better functional assessment tests to help seniors detect potential problems early, when intervention is most effective,' he said.

Figures from the Singapore Cancer Registry rank cancer of the colon or rectum as the top cancer among men, and the second most common cancer among women here.

Every year, about 1,400 people find themselves stricken with the disease, and more than 600 die from it.

However, it is highly curable. Last year, 123 lives were saved through the Singapore Cancer Society's (SCS) colorectal screening programme.

Currently, there is no national programme to detect colorectal cancer. The Singapore Cancer Society runs its own screening programme annually and has stepped up its efforts in providing free colorectal screening kits in recent years.

Parkway Cancer Centre also held its first public screening exercise for colorectal cancer in March.

Preliminary screeening for the disease involves the faecal occult blood test (FOBT), which is recommended to be taken every year, and involves a kit to collect a stool sample and sending it in for analysis.

If the test finds traces of blood in the stool sample, the person will be put through a colonoscopy, which involves the use of a scope to examine the interior of the colon.