NHG HMDP Fellowship Awards Ceremony

10 Jul 2001

By Mr Lim Hng Kiang

Mr Michael Lim, Chairman, National Healthcare Group; Mr Tan Tee How, Chief Executive Officer, National Healthcare Group; ladies and gentlemen. It gives me great pleasure to be here with you at the NHG Health Manpower Development Programme (HMDP) Awards Ceremony for 2001.

Aims and objectives of HMDP

HMDP was set up by MOH in 1980 to develop our healthcare manpower capabilities by sponsoring local doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to acquire:

Basic specialty training through local or overseas postgraduate courses and examinations

Advanced skills training through attachments at reputable overseas centres

Refresher training at Consultant level.

HMDP also sponsors visits by renowned overseas experts to Singapore for the purpose of giving lectures, carrying out clinical teaching and providing consultancies to local trainees and specialist departments.

The HMDP scheme is unique in that no other profession in the public sector enjoys such a comprehensive and generous facility for postgraduate education and professional development. It would not be an exaggeration for me to say that HMDP has been instrumental in ensuring that healthcare in Singapore stays abreast with the latest developments in medicine around the world.

Benefits of HMDP

MOH considers HMDP a worthwhile investment. It has helped to build up our pool of local medical specialists by providing young professionals with first-hand exposure to the clinical practices of the best overseas centres and enabling them to establish useful and enduring links with international leaders in their respective fields. In the rapidly advancing world of medical science and technology, Singapore cannot afford to become isolated in its practice or insular in its outlook. HMDP helps to make it possible for Singaporeans to continue enjoying up-to-date treatments and standards of healthcare delivery.

Devolution of HMDP funds to clusters

This year, MOH devolved the administration of HMDP funds for local staff fellowships to the clusters and statutory boards¹. The rationale behind this move is our desire to allow the clusters greater autonomy in the selection of programmes and candidates for funding. After all, who better than the hospitals and institutions themselves to decide what type of skills and training are most urgently required, which centres possess the most appropriate expertise in these fields and finally which of their staff are the most suitable to send for such training.

This devolution also enables the clusters to adjust the number and type of HMDP awards according to their specific needs within the limits of the overall budget. It means that they have the flexibility, if they wish, to send more people overseas for shorter periods of time, rather than sponsoring a smaller number to go away for longer periods. Indeed, one of the reasons why the clusters were set up was to provide them with precisely this type of autonomy and flexibility.

MOH HQ will continue to monitor and maintain oversight of developments within the various specialties vis-yy-vis our national healthcare needs and priorities. In this way, we can identify potential gaps in skills and expertise, which we will bring to the attention of the clusters. The clusters can then re-direct their HMDP resources appropriately to help correct these deficiencies.

NHG topping up MOH's contribution

At this juncture, I would like to commend the National Healthcare Group for contributing some of its own money towards the HMDP awards for its staff. My Ministry had earlier given NHG nearly $2m² for their HMDP expenditure this year. NHG has now topped up that amount to some $3m using money drawn from its tax savings and accumulated surpluses. As a result, NHG will be able to increase the number of HMDP awards and fellowships available to all categories of staff, including Registrars and Associate Consultants; Consultants and Senior Consultants: as well as Allied Healthcare and Nursing staff.

This is a clear demonstration of NHG's strong commitment towards staff training and professional development. It is also very much in line with my Ministry's goal when we decided to grant the clusters not-for-profit status. Our intention was for them to use their savings to build up systems that would improve their clinical service, provide training for their staff and facilitate the conduct of research.

Complementary efforts

Although the HMDP scheme is a key pillar in our overall strategy for training and professional development, it cannot stand alone in ensuring that our present and future healthcare professionals are trained to the highest standards. We must strive to build an organisational culture that promotes, supports and rewards training at all levels of seniority and within all categories of staff.

The clusters can achieve this in several ways:

First, by providing inputs and assistance to the Specialist Training Committees when they review and refine the training requirements for the various clinical specialties

Second, by encouraging all professional staff, especially newly returned HMDP fellows, to share their knowledge and skills with junior officers and trainees

Third, by recognising these returned HDMP fellows and other trainers for their efforts and excellence in teaching

Fourth, by ensuring that all trainees receive adequate protected time for training and academic activities; and

Fifth, by establishing a system for disseminating new capabilities and experiences that have been acquired via HMDP to the rest of the professional community, say, through the cluster or hospital's CME mechanism.

Conclusion

With partners like NHG enthusiastically shouldering their responsibility for training, research and service, my Ministry is confident that we will continue to benefit from many future generations of professionals who will be well trained and skilled to meet the needs and challenges of Singaporeans and our healthcare system.

Thank you, and may I offer our congratulations and best wishes on behalf of the Ministry to all the NHG HMDP Award recipients.

¹ - The HMDP funds for visiting experts are still managed centrally by MOH HQ.

² - Exact sum disbursed to NHG was $1.858,600