Regent Hotel's Royal Pavilion Ballroom quickly filled with friendly chatter and laughter as the SMA Annual Dinner got off to a perfect start on the evening of 12 May. Held in recognition of exceptional accomplishments by members of the profession, the Dinner this year was graced by Guest of Honour, Minister for Health Mr Gan Kim Yong, and distinguished guests including Senior Minister of State for Health and Environment & Water Resources, Dr Amy Khor; Senior Minister of State for Health and Transport, Dr Lam Pin Min; Permanent Secretary for Health, Mr Chan Heng Kee; Director of Medical Services, A/Prof Benjamin Ong; and Member of Parliament, Dr Chia Shi-Lu. Dinner guests included medical students from the three local medical schools, medical professionals from a variety of specialties, SMA volunteers, partners and stakeholders.
In his welcome address, our newly elected SMA President, Dr Lee Yik Voon, welcomed all SMA Members, guests and friends to the Dinner and shared a quick review of the challenges the Association and profession have faced in the past year, before ending off with encouragement for the medical fraternity to support and help one another as changes in the healthcare landscape continue (see page 10).
SMA Honorary Membership
This year's recipient of the SMA Honorary Membership was none other than our Guest of Honour, Minister Gan Kim Yong. Mr Gan was appointed the Minister for Health in 2011, and has contributed greatly to the development of the healthcare landscape since. With the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan in place, the Ministry has launched many public initiatives to improve accessibility of healthcare for Singaporeans. In Mr Gan's speech after being conferred the Honorary Membership, he highlighted the importance of a cohesive and collaborative relationship among the Ministry, professional bodies, and medical professionals in order to provide holistic healthcare for the nation. The citation for Mr Gan and his speech can be found on pages 12 and 13, respectively.
Showing appreciation
Amid the delectable dishes served, Dr Lee Yik Voon again took to the stage to introduce the members of the 59th SMA Council. He also presented tokens of appreciation, on behalf of the Association, to Dr Wong Tien Hua (immediate past SMA President) and Dr Charles Tan (member of the 57th and 58th SMA Council) for their work in SMA.
The SMA Merit Awards are presented to show appreciation and recognition for doctors who have contributed significantly to SMA, the medical profession or to social service in the community. This year's awards were presented to Dr Goh Wei Leong and Adj A/Prof Samuel Victor Rajadurai.
Dr Goh, a GP, is the co-founder and chairman of HealthServe, a non-profit organisation that seeks to serve the disadvantaged migrant workers in Singapore. In addition, Dr Goh is one of the founders of Linking Hands and the current chairman of board for Operation Mobilisation's Mercy Teams International. He was also an Adj Assistant Prof of Family Medicine, Department of Medicine at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
A/Prof Samuel is currently a senior consultant in the Department of Neonatology at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital. He was an Adj Prof of Paediatrics at Duke-NUS Medical School and a visiting professor to Tianjin Central Hospital, China. Presently, he is the vice-president of the Perinatal Society of Singapore and chairman of the IPOKRaTES Group in Singapore. He was also the founding director of the National Expanded Newborn Screening Programme.
The SMA Long Service Awards were also presented during the Annual Dinner to 12 recipients who have contributed greatly to SMA's work over the years.
Ten-year Long Service Awards
Dr Devanand Anantham: SMA Centre for Medical Ethics and Professionalism (CMEP) since 2008; SMA Ethics Committee since 2007.
Adj A/Prof Ang Tiing Leong: Singapore Medical Journal (SMJ) Editorial Board since 2008.
Dr Chang Haw Chong: SMJ Editorial Board from 2008 to 2018.
A/Prof Mahesh Choolani: SMJ Editorial Board since 2008.
A/Prof Gerald Chua Seng Wee: SMA CMEP since 2008.
Prof Fong Kok Yong: SMJ Editorial Board since 2008 to 2018.
Dr Benedict Tan Chi Loong: SMJ Editorial Board since 2006.
SMA Secretariat Long Service Awards
Ms Mellissa Ang: five years of service.
Ms Margaret Chan: ten years of service.
Ms Siti Nurhuda Bte Mohd Sulaiman: five year of service.
Ms Denise Tan: five years of service.
Mr Tan Kie Chuan: five years of service.
Recognising research efforts
Producing a high-quality research paper is no easy task, and the SMJ Best Research Paper Awards seek to recognise the conscientious efforts authors and researchers put into their papers. This year, the teams that produced the top three papers, selected from 61 original papers published in SMJ in 2017, each received a commemorative trophy and certificate which were presented by SMJ Editor-in-Chief A/Prof Poh Kian Keong.
The top prize was awarded to the paper "Prompt use of mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the MECCA study report". The award was received by Prof Venkataraman Anantharaman on behalf of his team.
Representing the team, Dr Mythily Subramaniam received the second prize for the paper "Gender differences in major depressive disorder: findings from the Singapore Mental Health Study".
Finally, Dr Asogan Aravind Barathi received the third prize on behalf of his team, which produced the paper "Concordance between core needle biopsy and surgical specimen for oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status in breast cancer".
Before the evening ends
Besides the accolades and awards presented over the evening, guests were seen seizing the opportunity to catch up with colleagues, juniors and seniors, over and in between the delightful courses served for the evening. Many also interacted with the Guest of Honour, Minister Gan Kim Yong, and our distinguished guests, before they departed for the evening. Even as the Dinner drew to a close, joyous laughter and cheers were heard as guests bade each other farewell, till the next SMA Annual Dinner.
SMA thanks our lucky draw prize sponsors: Crystal Time Pte Ltd, Summit Planners Pte Ltd and novita Singapore. The 59th SMA Council would like to thank all guests for taking the time to join us for an evening of collegiality.
Lucky Draw Winners
Dr Giles Tan Ming Yee
EDOX Ultra Slim Hand-winding Watch sponsored by Crystal Time Pte Ltd, worth $2,124.
Ms Sally Lim
iPhone X Space Gray 64GB sponsored by Summit Planners Pte Ltd, worth $1,648.
Dr Simrita Khurana
novita AirCare Pro Air/Surface Sterilizer NAS12000 sponsored by novita Singapore, worth $1,899.