SPEECH BY MR GAN KIM YONG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF TZU CHI INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION MEDICAL AND DENTAL CONFERENCE 2015, 6 MAR 2015

My Parliamentary Colleague, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang,

Distinguished Guests,

Mr. Low Swee Seh, CEO, Tzu Chi Foundation Singapore

Professor Lin Chin-Lon, CEO, Global Tzu Chi Medical Mission

Mr. Liak Teng Lit, Group CEO, Alexandra Health System

Ladies and Gentlemen

1.     Good morning and welcome to Singapore, to many of you who came from overseas. I hope that this conference will be an exciting and fruitful time for you. It gives me great pleasure to join you here this morning at the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Singapore Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) International Conference. I’m very happy to see many Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners, many doctors, dentists, nurses as well as allied health professionals attending this conference this morning to learn more about humanistic medicine.

Government’s support for healthcare

2.      This year marks a very significant milestone for Singapore as we celebrate our 50 years of nation-building or SG50 for short. While Singapore’s economy has developed rapidly over the past 50 years, there are still some in our society who may need special assistance, be it the less well-off, the elderly or the sick and frail.

3.      To ensure that quality healthcare in Singapore is accessible, affordable and also sustainable for Singaporeans, the Ministry of Health (MOH), my Ministry, continually reviews our healthcare policies to ensure we take better care of our people. In rolling out our policies and programmes, we need to work closely with our stakeholders such as healthcare institutions, researchers, community groups and volunteer welfare organisations to ensure that the needs of the people are met. I would like to thank many of you here for your tireless dedication, no matter what area of work you are involved in.

Humanitarian Medicine

4.      The ideal of service is what makes healthcare as a unique vocation. Humanitarianism is at its core. Healthcare professionals need to practise with conscience, dignity, empathy, humility, and give due respect to life, while prioritising patient-centric healthcare in an ethical manner. These are enshrined in the principles of the Hippocratic Oath and the more modern versions or adaptations of the oath in your respective countries.

5.      While the provision of healthcare can alleviate sickness, pain and suffering, and is therefore humanitarian in nature, humanitarian medicine goes beyond this. Humanitarian medicine promotes people’s health as a human right. That means, basic healthcare that is universally accessible, and delivered regardless of one’s background or differences.

Singapore’s efforts

6.      For our healthcare professionals in Singapore, their clinical knowledge and experience are much-needed skills that can be tapped, to help others beyond our own shores. This is part of our role as a responsible international citizen.

7.      Some of our public hospitals have been proactive in providing assistance overseas, with their medical personnel and other healthcare staff initiating and supporting projects overseas. For example, in the past five years, we have had multidisciplinary medical mission teams comprising representatives from both Singapore General Hospital and the private sector visit Hainan Province, China, operating on patients with cleft or craniofacial conditions. More than 150 operations had been performed, bringing hope and joy to the patients and their families.

8.      I am also heartened that our budding clinicians have also shown keen interest in volunteering. Take for instance the medical students of the National University of Singapore (NUS)’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. They have organised free public health screenings for nine years to help promote health in the community and reach out to the needy and elderly in Singapore.

9.      For some individuals, they have even ventured out on their own. Some of you may have heard about Dr Tan Lai Yong. He was in Yunnan, China, from 1996 to 2010, to reach out to the poor in rural areas. He treated the disabled and leprous and trained village doctors in various skills such as administering vaccinations and diagnosing common ailments.

10.    More recently, Professor Dale Fisher and Ms Sharon Salmon from the National University Hospital, were in West Africa during the Ebola outbreak last year. Professor Fisher, an expert in infectious diseases, helped Liberia to set up proper care facilities for Ebola patients, besides assisting in the reopening of hospitals and healthcare facilities. Ms Salmon, an expert in infection prevention and control, developed a training programme for villagers to understand the risks of Ebola and had shared with them how to care for their loved ones who may be infected. These are commendable efforts.

Towards Humanistic Medicine

11.    I would like to take this opportunity to encourage our healthcare professionals to volunteer in humanitarian projects both in Singapore and overseas. You will be able to share your expertise in other communities, outside of your usual clinical settings. You will also be enriched personally by the opportunity to work in different communities, with different challenges, and gain from this unique experience.

12.    Today’s conference thus has an appropriate theme: “Towards Humanistic Medicine”. It speaks of the extent of Tzu Chi’s global reach – a network of over 8,000 licensed doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses as well as TCM practitioners who serve as volunteers in over 45 countries to treat the poor and sick, including those in disaster areas.

13.    I commend Tzu Chi for its efforts in organising this inaugural conference, which brings together about 500 delegates to learn from each other’s experience in the practice of humanitarian medicine. I am also pleased to launch TIMA’s commemorative SG50 book, entitled Humanistic Care Through Humane Heart. It is a compilation of 50 stories of humanistic medical care. The 50 stories depict how local healthcare professionals, including doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, TCM practitioners and allied health professionals, bring relief to the sick and needy in the local community as well as overseas in countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. I hope these stories will inspire more to participate in humanistic medical care in Singapore and beyond.

Conclusion

14.    In closing, I would like to thank Tzu Chi Foundation for their efforts and generosity in serving the needy. I wish all of you a fruitful and productive conference.