THE number of people who used Medisave to cover part of their treatment for chronic illnesses has jumped five times in the last two years.

A study by the Ministry of Health had put the number of people on the Chronic Disease Management Programme at 98,901 at the end of last year, up from 20,092 at the end of 2006.

Their digging into their Medisave funds has done good: They registered overall improvements in their cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes readings.

The number of diabetics with acceptable blood sugar levels, for example, went up from 14,922 to 15,888.

The proportion of diabetics with optimal blood pressure and cholesterol levels also increased; hypertensive patients who started out with poor blood pressure control also showed vast improvements.

But while strides were made by those with poor initial readings, some who started with optimal readings logged poorer results at the end of the two-year study.

Doctors tracking these patients said this could be due to natural disease progression and the patients' failure to follow treatment instructions or to control their diets.

Dr Vincent Chow of the Lifeline Medical Group clinic in Choa Chu Kang has seen more patients get on board the programme, which was begun in 2006 to enable patients to use their Medisave funds to pay for a portion of their treatment bills for diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol disorders and stroke.

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were added to the list last year, and depression and schizophrenia will be added later this year.

Most of the patients on the programme are above 50 and nearly half have three or more chronic diseases. Diabetes is the leading ailment.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.

aprilc@sph.com.sg