Dr Ng Lay Guat, 42, a senior consultant urologist and director of Female Urology & Transplant at the Singapore General Hospital, is one of the few experts here who perform reconstructive urology. POON CHIAN HUI reports

I decided to specialise in urology because...
When I was a trainee doctor, I found that urology, which deals with problems in the urinary system – such as the kidneys and bladder, is a specialty that has a good mix of surgery and medicine, plus it requires a lot of thinking. People have been asking me this question for the past 15 years.

The urinary system is fascinating because...
It is very resilient. It can take a lot of stress on its own before something gives way and symptoms start to appear. Also, patients with the same symptom may have different reasons and causes for having it. Figuring out the root cause is challenging.

If I were to give an analogy for what I do, I would be a...
Plumber because urologists deal with the “water” system. However, we also handle other aspects of the urinary system that do not necessarily involve actual mechanical obstruction.

I have come across all types of cases...
I handle what my colleagues call the “bowels” of urology – or things that most people do not do. An example would be reconstructive urology, where I fix tears to the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body) that may have resulted from damage to the pelvis incurred during traffic accidents.

I also tackle kidney transplants and female urology. There was a woman who had trouble urinating for 15 years. She had an unusual condition where the muscles involved in urine release would not relax properly. She had to exert a lot of effort in order to relieve herself. She is now well after treatment.

A typical day for me would be...
I wake up at 6.30am to get my children ready for school. I have two sons, aged 13 and 11, and a six-year-old daughter.

I am at the hospital by 7.40am. The day starts with a meeting, followed by a quick ward round and clinic consultations. I may also perform surgery, which will wrap up at around 5 to 6pm.

Then, I head home to spend time with my family. I also supervise my children in their homework. My husband, 42, is a radiologist.

I love patients who are...
Understanding and who really appreciate what we do. Our waiting times are not always short so it is good to have people who are understanding of such situations.

Patients who get my goat are...
Those who might not have serious health problems but expect us to treat them as if they are the only patients in the world. Dealing with such people can be quite stressful.

One little known fact about incontinence is...
Lots of people suffer in silence. For example, many mothers think that it is normal to have poor bladder control after giving birth to three children or more.

Many older folk wake up five or six times in the night to go to the toilet and they think that it is all right, that it is just part of ageing. The fact is that they do not have to suffer because their situation can be improved.

Things that put a smile on my face are...
When patients get well and go home happy, that is a good day’s work for me.

It breaks my heart when...
Complications that are beyond my control arise. It is distressing when the patient fails to listen to instructions and does things like pulling out a tube that has been inserted in him. Having a second operation is usually riskier.

I would not trade places for the world because...
I do not really have an answer to that. I am just happy where I am.

My best tip...
Make sure you go to the toilet often – no matter how dirty some public toilets may be. Otherwise, the bladder will stretch after some time. I have met young people who need tubes to help them urinate because they have held their bladder on numerous occasions. For example, when they were students, they had avoided the school toilet and waited until they got home to relieve themselves.