13th September 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Phase 3 trials have inherent limitations in assessing vaccine safety because of the small number of participants and the sample population is generally reasonably young and healthy. They are often underpowered to identify less common adverse events. For example, the AZ interventional arm had about 11,000 participants and the interventional arm of the Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine had about 23,000 participants.…
14th August 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Shoulder pain has to be one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints in general practice. Rotator cuff pathology makes up at least 70% of those cases (1). It is commonly very debilitating, causing pain the whole night, causing significant reduction in function and often last for years. Apart from rest, analgesia, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, treatment options include physiotherapy, corticosteroid injections and surgical repair.…
27th June 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
We all do it. Either we arrange for patients to come in once a year to have a “general check-up” or patients come in requesting one. There are no set rules what we check for and what blood tests to order. Somehow, patients feel better that they have been given a clean bill of health and at times, we feel that we have check them out properly and all is good.…
9th June 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
We all know that detailed information relating to Covid-19 is both fluid and rapidly changing. It’s only a mere 3 months since the first reports of thrombosis with thrombocytopaenia (TTS) relating to the administration of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine emerged from Austria. The recommendations as to who should not have the AZ vaccine is constantly being revised as more information comes in from the case reports.…
13th April 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Every time the government overpromise and underdeliver, we are the ones that have to deal with the public whose expectations have been led unnecessarily high for political reasons. With the issue of clots relating to the AZ vaccine on the front page over the last week or so, patients are now utterly confused and look to their GP for advice as to where and when to proceed.…
5th April 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Last week we explored the association of thromboembolism following vaccination with AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine. This adverse event was first reported in two patients in Austria which is then followed by more reports in Germany and the rest of Europe. One man in Victoria was recently reported to have similar adverse effects following the AZ vaccine.…
13th March 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
Medical treatment options for type 2 diabetes (T2D) have increased over the last decade and enhance the possibility of individualised treatment strategies where insulin is still one of them. In spite of the advancements in treatment options, less than one-third of the population with diabetes achieve their glycaemic target. What if I tell you that there is a new treatment option available that has been shown to significantly reduce HbA1c, hypoglycaemia, hospitalisation, complications and diabetic medications?…
12th March 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
I don’t about you but I seem to be bombarded by emails championing the wonderful things that cannabis oil can do. I even had a pharmaceutical rep swinging by to ask why I wasn’t prescribing cannabis oil for my patients. I even have a specialist (of sorts) that recommended that my patient come and discuss cannabis oil for his condition with me.…
13th February 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
As often occurs with new medications and vaccines, pregnant individuals were excluded from the clinical trials for these vaccines. As the vaccine roll out begins, women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant will want to discuss the safety of the vaccines with their GP. We better be up to date with the relevant issues so that we can have a meaningful discussion with our patient.…
24th January 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
PERSONAL OPINION
Is it deliberate that we are given 10 days lead time to submit an expression of interest (EOI) to participate in the national Covid-19 vaccine Phase 1b roll-out? 18 pages of information released on a Friday afternoon in the hope that we might skim over the details and sign up without reading the fine print?…
Dear Colleague
NSW Health would like to thank you for your continued work in the response to COVID-19. In order to continue to identify any undetected cases and break chains of transmission, we need to remain vigilant. The key to achieving this is to test people with even the very mildest symptoms of COVID-19. While testing rates have been relatively high in recent weeks, we need to continue to encourage testing and remain on high alert. …
12th January 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo
So, here we are. It’s almost 12 months since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of vaccines will become available within weeks. GPs can’t be the sole provider of the vaccines but we will a major part of the vaccination roll out program. We haven’t heard much from NSW Health on how the program will be rolled out, which will be the first subgroups we will be vaccinating nor will the vaccine ordering system be better than last year’s influenza vaccination program.…