Mr Nelson Loh and I agree with Dr Siew Tuck Wah that patients must be at the core of what we do (Wrong approach to reduce patients to dollars and cents; Aug 3).

Though the report on our Novena Global Lifecare Group made us sound like we are less than caring about our patients (Cousins who gave up banking for beauty (sector); July 31), this is furthest from the truth.

Both of us invested in the healthcare and wellness business with the mission of making it affordable and accessible to everyone.

We have seen how technology has advanced healthcare services in other countries so that more people can afford quality health screening and aesthetic treatments to stay healthy and look young.

To make these services more affordable, we need to build scale, and one way to do this is to tap our existing database to help our customers, especially those outside of Singapore, to be aware of our expanding range of preventive and predictive treatments.

It was in this context that we mentioned "database" and improved analytics.

We also did not mention or even hint that there would be an "axing of doctors from medical aesthetics", as reported. We have also clarified this with the reporter.

She was referring to what we had said about reducing reliance on doctors as machine operators to free up their time for more diagnosis and consulting.

We hope we have cleared the air about Novena Global Lifecare's aim and what it is trying to achieve.

Terence Loh