MASTER'S MESSAGE (JUL-AUG 2013)

6 September 2013

Dear Fellow Academicians

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to lead the Academy for a second two-year term as Master (2014 - 2016). I am deeply honoured by your support and I remain committed to serve and do more to fulfil the priorities and objectives set out in the strategic plans advocated by the Academy Council.

July and August have been hectic for the Academy Council, Fellows and staff. We held our annual Induction Comitia in conjunction with the 47th Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine and hosted the 2nd Tripartite Congress of Medicine on 23-24 August 2013. 

The Academy is deeply honoured to have His Excellency President Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam grace this year’s conferment as Guest-of-Honour. We are equally privileged to confer Honorary Fellowship on Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance at this year’s Induction Comitia.

This year’s Induction Comitia, with close to 400 in attendance, officially witnessed 92 medical and dental specialists conferred as Fellows of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore. Joining them were 25 academic leaders and Presidents of overseas colleges. In my address, I elaborated on the significance of donning an academic gown and reiterated to Fellow Academicians our important obligation in maintaining the highest standard of Professional and Ethical Practices. We also celebrated the achievements of 18 doctors who have successfully completed their Staff Registrar Scheme (SRS) Diploma programme under the Academy. 

The evening culminated with DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam delivering the Academy’s 21st Gordon Arthur Ransome Oration, an esteemed biennial event of the Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine. DPM Tharman’s oration entitled “A Fair and Just Society: What Stays, What Changes?” was especially meaningful for our Fellows and guests. He shared his thoughts on the weighty concerns of the day and provided an insightful perspective on the approach to ensuring a fair and inclusive society.

On a personal note, I was deeply gratified to see ten of our Past Masters who made the time and effort to grace this Induction Comitia.

I am pleased to report that the Congress enjoyed strong support from our Fellows, trainees and medical students.  

In addition to the Induction Comitia and Gordon Arthur Ransome Oration, highlights of the Congress were:

A particularly noteworthy session put together by Dr Wong Kok Seng, the Congress’ Organising Chairman, was the lively debate on Residency Training. Residents from National Healthcare Group (NHG), National University Health Services (NUHS) and Singapore Health Services (SHS) debated with gumption, conviction and finesse on three topics:

• It is too early in the final year of medical school to choose a specialty for residency training
• Mandatory 6-months General/Geriatric Medicine Rotation is detrimental to the 36‐month IM‐Specialty Senior Residency Training Master of Medicine (Internal Medicine)
• MRCP (UK) is a better Assessment Method than ABIM

The presenters were only informed of their topic’s stance, i.e. “for” or “against”, just before the debate, thus injecting another level of challenge into the debate. Presidents and representatives from Royal College of Physicians of London, Edinburgh and Ireland contributed their views enthusiastically namely in the 3rd debate. The session concluded with NUHS winning the first two debates while the team from NHG won the third. Congratulations to all debaters who have made the session a great success and an edifying experience for all.

The College of Public Health and Occupational Physicians held its 8th Public Health and Occupational Medicine Conference on 29-30 August 2013. This year, the College motto “Advancing the Health of Population” is also the conference’s theme.  

Close to 300 participants were treated to an interesting line-up of scientific programmes. Prof John Ashton, President of the UK Faculty of Public Health, delivered the thought provoking and enlightening plenary lecture on “Twenty First Century Public Health – Living up to the Challenge”. The conference also featured sharing on the different population groups namely Youth and Children, Adult Health, Ageing Population, and Communities Most at Need. Workshops also covered Haze Awareness, Personal Data and Protection Act, Ethics and Professionalism, and Consensus Building and Communications. The panel discussion on the Health Impact of the White Paper had brought great interest to everyone present.

The diversity of speakers and topics is a testament to the firm commitment to multi-disciplinary learning and the belief that today’s health challenges are best met by different academic disciplines coming together.

Medicine Review Course is the annual teaching course of the College of Physicians, Singapore. I urge our fellows to take this opportunity to re-learn our general internal medicine, so that we are aware of the latest development in the field of internal medicine and make timely referrals to our colleagues for our patients.

This year, the College of Surgeons, Singapore’s theme for its Annual Combined Surgical Meeting is “New Surgical Technologies”. In the last 2 decades, the general surgical field has advanced by leaps and bounds. Highlights include lectures on issues pertaining to the impact of robotics on surgery and in particular in training and accreditation and sharing of expertise in mini-laparoscopy and SILS, state of the art in endovascular stenting and advances in tumour imaging for breast surgery. There are also workshops on breast imaging, endovascular stenting and laproscopic D2 gastrectomy (Cadavaric dissection).

I encourage our surgical Fellows to attend the meeting as it promises to be an exciting and educational endeavour for all.

I would like to invite all Fellows to participate in the Online Membership Survey which will be rolled out shortly. Please spare a moment of your time to give us your input and feedback as it is important to help us understand how the Academy can serve you better. 

Before I close this edition of my message, I would like to wish our Fellows involved in medical education a very Happy Teacher's Day today.

Best wishes

Lim Shih Hui

Master (2012 - 2016)

Academy of Medicine, Singapore

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