BY: CHANG AI-LIEN

HE GREW up poor, the man of the house to his five brothers and sisters.

His father, a seaman, was home only a couple of days a year, and his mother struggled to make ends meet sewing.

'At the age of 11, I was cooking and ironing for my family, giving tuition to my brothers and sisters, and signing their report cards,' said Dr Ting Choon Meng, 49.

Yet he managed to earn a medical degree and build up several successful biomedical companies from scratch, on the back of his own inventions.

But he has never forgotten his early struggles, which have spurred him to 'pay it forward' by helping fellow inventors, and sponsoring poor students in their studies.

'I can't save the world, but I can pick an area where I can make a difference in the lives of a few people,' he said.

Dr Ting started off as a general practitioner in 1987, and built up four thriving practices here.

But his true calling was invention.

As a doctor, he saw that hypertension and related illnesses were skyrocketing, despite medical advances. His answer to this was the BPro, produced during his non-clinic hours, which provides round-the- clock blood-pressure monitoring so doctors have a map of readings as they fluctuate.

The 'big-picture approach', now recognised as being superior to one-off readings in the clinic, allows doctors to spot potential problems such as hypertension, and nip them in the bud.

Eight years later, BPro is his star product.

Produced by HealthStats International, one of his five companies, it is used in over 30 countries and major hospitals and clinics here. It has also been worn by the likes of President S R Nathan and gongfu star Jackie Chan.

Another company, GlucoStats, produces a patented device for non-invasive monitoring of blood sugar for diabetics; while MobileStats came up with the Swift disaster rescue vehicle - a mini-hospital on wheels - used by the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

The orders may be pouring in now, but the going was tough in the early days, said Dr Ting.

Then, no one, not the Economic Development Board nor private investors, had any interest in his project.

The medical fraternity here was also unconvinced about a new device that rocked conventional wisdom on how blood pressure should be monitored, he said.

So he sold three of his four clinics to sustain the company, while employees offered to take pay cuts or even work for free until things got better.

This helped him carry on for four long years, until the first venture capitalist was convinced to put $4 million into BPro in 2004.

'It was a very lonely battle. At that point, it would have been easy to give up, and there were so many reasons to do so,' he said.

'But I knew that BPro would be able to save lives. I could not give up - I would not have been able to sleep at night.'

He is convinced that Singapore is full of inventors like himself, and he wants to help them take their ideas to the market - minus the anguish and struggles he faced trying to make it on his own.

Dr Ting decided to start a Fellowship of Inventors here, gathering doctors, engineers, academics, patent lawyers and industrialists to form the society, which was registered in June. These experts give talks and share ideas with prospective inventors at regular meetings.

Last night, he saw another dream come true.

It was the opening of Singapore's first convention, exhibition and conference for inventors, which attracted close to 300 participants.

'I want to see my fellow Singaporeans making a difference, and this is how I'm trying to help them. The only way for Singapore to survive in the next league is to exploit our innovations,' he said.

'I feel that this is my calling.'

A man of many passions, Dr Ting says he is a connoisseur of single malt whisky, smelly cheese, good friends, and of course, watches.

Each milestone, whether it has been accreditation by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or when the King and Queen of Jordan wore his watch, is celebrated with a new watch - he now has 40 in his collection.

While he has one-of-a-kind models handmade by a Swiss master over nine months, the most precious in his collection is the porcelain black Swiss Rado he got over 10 years ago, during a trip to Italy, to learn about laser surgery.

'It meant a lot because it was the first trip for me and my wife in Europe, and also because it signified how I was breaking out of my role as a GP.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on August 16, 2008.