1st Neurosurgical Instructional Course featuring Virtual Reality

02 May 2006

By Prof K Satku, Director of Medical Services

Venue: Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Auditorium

Ms Yong Ying-I

The Permanent Secretary for Health

Dr Ivan Ng,

Chairman, Organizing Committee and Course Director,

1st Neurosurgical Instructional Course Featuring Virtual Reality,

and Head, Department of Neurosurgery, NNI

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

It gives me great pleasure to join you this morning at the opening of the 1st Neurosurgical Instructional Course featuring Virtual Reality as a teaching  tool. Let me begin by thanking the members of our distinguished teaching faculty, who have taken time from their busy schedules to contribute to this course. Thank you very much.

Neurosurgery is one of 35 medical specialties in Singapore. There are only 24 neurosurgeons in active practice in Singapore with slightly more than half,  currently practicing in the public sector.

Though a specialty with modest numbers, your achievements are not small. From clinically demanding conjoint twin surgeries, to advancing neurosurgical techniques through technology, our neurosurgeons have collaborated with the best in the world, and have put Singapore onto the world map of Medicine.

But neurosurgery is a demanding specialty. Training is long and the path to becoming a successful neurosurgeon is arduous.  It is not exactly what many would consider a "life-style" career. Perhaps these are some of the reasons why few chose to train in neurosurgery. But yet another reason could be because many medical officers have not seen neurosurgery in action. I know that neurosurgery is not a popular posting for medical officers.  It could be the long hours or it could just be that many consider neurosurgery extremely specialized.

But this situation is not tenable. We need more neurosurgeons and indeed, there is capacity for many more neurosurgeons in Singapore. On our part the Ministry will ensure that the neurosurgical departments are adequately staffed at the medical officer level and have a fair share of local medical officers to ensure exposure. We will also increase the number of traineeships available each year.

On your part you must show these young doctors what neurosurgery is about, teach and nurture and some of them may be inspired to follow in your footsteps. This is something that the neurosurgical fraternity must do for the nation.

The governmental push for a stronger biomedical sector, including clinical and translational research, will also require many more neurosurgeons. Even as we continue to care for the 4.5 million Singapore residents, more neurosurgeons will facilitate the drive of bench to bedside and bedside to bench research.

Such a move will complement and grow our existing service capabilities, by making available cutting edge technologies and advanced surgical techniques for Singaporeans.

It will also stimulate SingaporeMedicine and allow us to serve part of the 3 billion people dispersed throughout our greater hinterland and beyond. We must recognize these trends and together seize the opportunities that come our way.  I am happy to note that NNI has taken heed of this direction. For example, I am told that the Acute Brain Injury Laboratory at NNI has secured over 4 million dollars in grant funding since its inception in the year 2000. Apart from intensive-care, clinical and translational research, the Acute Brain Injury Lab actively runs clinical trials. It has published more than a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals over the last 2 years. This is no mean feat.

On another front, the practice of medicine is now intrinsically linked with computers and technology. It wasn't always like that. In fact the health care industry is frequently accused of being slow to incorporate IT compared to other industries. In Singapore for example, the level of integration in our electronic medical records systems is still rudimentary compared to many healthcare institutions in the US and this has led my ministry to make "exploiting IT maximally" one of its priorities.

On the clinical front however, you will agree with me that our clinicians have not failed in embracing and applying computers and technology into clinical applications.

For example our surgeons are among the first in this part of the world to deploy robots in minimally invasive surgery, and use computer modeling to plan and optimize surgical interventions. Our neurosurgeons are at the forefront of computerized surgical planning, and continue to innovate and thereby have contributed significantly to improving the outcome and safety for our patients.

In the same vein, the Department of Neurosurgery at NNI has, for the past decade, been involved in the development of a virtual reality system together with its academic and industrial partners. Virtual reality technology transforms the learning of neuro-anatomy from a traditional 2-dimensional confines, into a vastly more applicable and realistic 3-dimensional surgical world. Neurosurgical residents today are fortunate to train in a simulated, no-risk environment; sharpening their skills by repeated practice through virtual reality.

NNI's decision to organise this landmark Neurosurgical Instructional Course, featuring Virtual Reality as a Teaching Tool at a regional level will bring together neurosurgeons from countries all over, and facilitate learning and collaboration at a much richer level than is possible by ourselves.   I would like to congratulate the organizing committee for its effort in making this possible. Having said that, this success would be sweeter, perhaps, if there were more local neurosurgical residents to benefit from this landmark course.

In closing let me say that NNI must continue in its mission to deliver excellent care, provide superb training and conduct world-class research. You must attract good people with the necessary mettle to grow the neurosurgery fraternity.

In our pursuit to do things better, we must constantly remind ourselves to keep medicine cost-effective and affordable. SingaporeMedicine and the development of the biomedical sector will help us achieve cutting edge medicine but our ultimate goal must be to improve the health of our patients and Singaporeans.

On this note, I declare open the 1st Neurosurgical Instructional Course Featuring Virtual Reality, and wish all of you a truly enjoyable learning experience. Thank you.