SMA News began in 1966 as the Medical Newsletter, a brief publication ran to report on news and events without comment. Over the years, the newsletter grew and came to embrace a wider function, now featuring submissions of many varieties, from serious discussions on medical ethics to light-hearted travelogues, in addition to conveying the Association's stances on the pertinent issues of the day.
As a special Feature commemorating our 60th anniversary, SMA News dives into the past to spotlight several articles published at various points throughout our history. These glimpses into the past show us how much may have changed and how much may have stayed the same, but the newsletter has always remained committed to being by doctors, for doctors. The following article was first published in the March/April 1979 issue.
The Editorial Committee has proposed the following format for the SMA Newsletter. The regular columns which we shall publish are:
1. Editorial and News from the Council of the SMA.
2. Topical articles of the medical scene in Singapore and medico-politics, if any.
3. Letters to the Editor.
4. Medical Mandarin.
In response to the demands at the last AGM, the following additional regular columns have been added:
5. A personal column – we invite our readers to send us details of special occasions of joys or sorrows for announcement in the SMA Newsletter, such as weddings, wedding anniversaries, engagements, births or deaths.
6. Column on exchange and mart – this is a new column to act as a service to our readers. We invite readers to send in details of anything they wish to sell or exchange or buy from fellow readers, such as houses, cars, clinics, antiques, hi fi, etc.
7. Affiliated Societies news column – this column is for all our affiliated societies to announce future functions of their respective societies and any news regarding office bearers, etc.
8. Honours column – in the past the SMA Newsletter has only published news about doctors being promoted or obtaining higher qualifications. We hope to increase this news coverage to include congratulations on awards other than medical, and also elections to office in service clubs, community service, etc. Please let us have news of yourself or your friends or colleagues if such honours are bestowed on them.
9. "May & September" – this column is to introduce our potential colleagues and to give them space in the Newsletter to air their views and also to announce any news regarding the Medical Society of the University of Singapore. We hope our young friends and colleagues will rise to the challenge. As a contra we shall invite medical colleagues who have retired to give us their views and any anecdotical stories in their years of practice as a doctor. This will balance the views of our young members.
10. Guest column – from time to time we shall ask non-medical people to write in this Guest column on topics which we think will be of general interest to our profession, such as investments in stocks and shares and banking, property market, taxation, management, etc.
11. From time to time we shall also publish an interview column called the SMA Editorial Committee interviews... Here, we hope to interview eminent personalities in the Singapore scene, both medical and non-medical, on topics pertaining to our profession.
12. For the first time, the SMA Newsletter Editorial Committee has a lady; we have great pleasure to have Dr. Jenny Lee to be representing the ladies on our Editorial Committee. She has very kindly agreed to edit the ladies section of the Newsletter, so all you lady doctors please contact her if you have any news, views or articles of interest for both sexes for publication in our Newsletter.
13. We know that our doctors are more than just technologically competent professionals, many have aspired and attained great literary talents. Dr. Leong Vie Chung has very kindly agreed to edit the literary section of the Newsletter – we hope that all the aspiring writers, poets, etc., amongst you will send your contributions to him for publication. We also request for volunteers from you to review books for this section. We shall be writing to the publishers of local books to send their new publications to our literary editor for book review. Please contact Dr. Leong if you wish to offer your services as a reviewer.
14. Hobbies – under this column we shall publish articles on how you should spend your leisure. Many doctors are great motoring enthusiasts, hi fi enthusiasts or photography enthusiasts, including those who collect stamps, etc. We hope to get experts from our profession to run articles on these topics. For the motoring section we have enlisted 3 able doctors who have experience in writing in the popular press on reviews of motor cars and car accessories. We intend to do a similar review or tests of cars and car accessories for our doctors.
Hi fi is a great talking point among our colleagues and also many of us spend a lot of money investing in very expensive audio equipment. We have managed to get one expert in this field from our profession to write reviews of this interesting hobby. For those who are interested in photography, they have not been forgotten.
At this point, the Editorial Committee would welcome contributors from amongst our readers who are experts in hobbies such as stamp collecting, coins collecting, antiques, etc., to contribute articles for us.
15. Travel column – a lot of us travel for pleasure or in the course of our work, to all parts of the world. Therefore a travel section is most appropriate and we hope to solicit articles from you about your experiences in your travels especially on tips and advice to your colleagues on how to get about in the rest of the world.
Finally, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". We do not intend to run a newsletter only for information and heavy reading. A humour column and perhaps cartoon strip would bring light relief after a heavy day's work. We shall persuade some of our past contributors on this topic to revive this and to provide us cartoons or cartoon strips. Those of you who have jokes to tell provided they are not slanderous or unprintable, please send them to us so that we can all share in the humour.
WE NEED YOUR HELP.
