SPEECH BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE DUKE-NUS CLASS OF 2025 GRADUATION AND HOODING CEREMONY, 31 MAY 2025 4.30PM, AT ACADEMIA

Professor Thomas Coffman, Dean of Duke-NUS Medical School,

Duke-NUS Faculty and staff,

Graduands and family members,

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

1.                 It is a great pleasure to join you today for the graduation and hooding ceremony of Duke-NUS. This year’s graduation ceremony is particularly significant, as it marks 20 years since Duke-NUS was established in Singapore.

Education and Innovation Over Two Decades

2.                 Over two decades, Duke-NUS has distinguished itself as the institution which develops medical professionals anchored in academic medicine and translational research. I believe this has helped catalysed the transformation of healthcare in Singapore as we synergise research and clinical practice throughout our system.

3.                 Duke-NUS has also contributed beyond education and healthcare. From the invention of the cPass™ test which can detect neutralising antibodies for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, your contribution to Singapore’s first homegrown cancer drug candidate targeting the Wnt signalling pathway, and AI-driven cardiac triage tool – you have made your mark in healthcare innovation and enterprise.

4.                 Today, the school has become a vital node in our national research ecosystem. As Duke-NUS celebrates its 20^th anniversary, I thank you for your contribution to Singapore and wish you many more good years under a new Dean and we look forward to working with you.

The Graduands’ Journey

5.                 Let me now turn our attention to the graduands. I wrote this speech particularly for those who are going to be clinicians. My heartiest congratulations to you and your families! All graduands today have taken a longer path to become a medical doctor. Some of you have a first degree unrelated to medicine or science, which makes the journey even more challenging.

6.                 Furthermore, you started your studies with a global pandemic and are ending it with significant uncertainties surrounding university education in the US. Your journey cannot get more eventful than this, which makes your accomplishment now even more fulfilling.

7.                 Whatever your background and the path taken, I wish all of you the very best as you embark on a career in medicine, stepping into hospitals and clinics – meeting your first patients, writing your first case notes, making your first prescriptions, dealing with your first medical emergency, and contributing to our healthcare system and the wellbeing of our people.

Resilience and Optimism

8.                 It is tradition for speakers at commencement ceremonies to share their wisdom about life and career. My sharing today, however, is limited by the fact that you are medically trained while I am not. But it will be informed by the fact that we are all working in healthcare, in different parts of the system but sharing the same ethos and mission.

9.                 Today, I would like to talk about two qualities which I think are most needed in a career in healthcare. It is what I have observed as Minister for Health.

10.             The first is resilience. In Singapore, it is widely known that medical schools are the most difficult to gain admission into. It is common for medical students to have perfect academic scores and an impressive record in sports, the arts and volunteer work. The best students get into medical schools.

11.             Therefore medical students justifiably have high expectations about your future after graduation. Yet when you step out of school into the hospital, you can get a rude shock. Patient load is high, night calls are long, patients and their loved ones can be demanding, the pay is not necessarily the highest, the position in the profession not necessarily the most prestigious and a few patients may even file complaints with the Singapore Medical Council against you.

12.             You may wonder if this is what you signed up for. I want to assure you, this is normal and par for the course. These are the inherent challenges of the profession that you have chosen and that you can overcome.

13.             MOH and our healthcare clusters have put in place systems and processes to help you address these challenges. For example, we are expanding our healthcare manpower resources to cope with patient volume, progressively reducing the duration of night calls and taking a zero-tolerance approach to abusive patients and family members.

14.             Our healthcare clusters have appointed Chief Wellness Officers to establish a support network to look after the welfare and mental wellness of its staff. We also encourage supervisors to be nurturing and supportive to junior doctors.

15.             On a personal front, you have to focus on the good that you are delivering to patients and understand that the vast majority of patients and their families are thankful for your work but choose to be silent.

16.             This brings me to the second important quality in healthcare, which is optimism. As a doctor you are most likely going to see people, on a daily basis, who are sick, weak, and in some form of distress and anxiety. Such work can be emotionally draining.

17.             But remember you cannot get dragged down. Patients need your help and guidance. They always look to you for hope. So find the optimism and positivity in you to lift them up. Even if you cannot offer hope, and there will be times you cannot, at least offer comfort and support.

18.             I speak with some empathy even though I am not a doctor, because there are similarities between being a doctor and a Member of Parliament (MP) and Minister. We often see MPs and Ministers being guests-of-honour, taking pictures on stage, with pomp and ceremony.

19.             But in fact, most of our work involves spending time meeting residents in the evening listening to their concerns and problems, visiting homes and places in the community to meet people, addressing numerous issues and complaints raised through public emails even after we get home. We work seven days a week. In an election, the pace intensifies, and we must be able to withstand political attacks and even online vitriol.

20.             But these, as I said, are par for the course, part and parcel of the job, inherent in our profession. Without doing all these we cannot be an MP or Minister, which enables us to make an impact and render all the hard work and sacrifices worthwhile.

21.             I have come to realise that the great majority of residents that I have to work with and serve appreciate our work, but they will not tell us. The minority of residents who are unhappy with us tend to be vocal. Hence when I get a complaint, I will try to address it. When I get an email or letter of compliment, I will keep it. I have a special folder in my mailbox where I keep all the compliments.

22.             In my younger days as an MP and Minister, I would go through these positive messages occasionally to shore up my resilience and optimism. Today I need it much less as I have internalised the necessary mindset.

23.             That said, the greatest source of resilience, optimism and strength comes from the people we work with in healthcare, whom we share the same mission and purpose and go through thick and thin together. I believe in public healthcare you are rarely alone in facing your challenges and fears, because we always work as a team.

24.             One of the most valuable things I have gained in my last few years as the Minister for Health are the colleagues I worked with. They may see me as their boss, but I have learned tremendously from them. This is also why I think it is difficult to leave public healthcare. For doctors and nurses, it is the same. Attrition rate is generally healthy, contrary to some claims.

Change and Constant

25.             To all the graduands today, you will be practising in a healthcare system that is fast changing. A rapidly ageing world population, revolutionary medical technological advancements, and shortage of healthcare manpower globally have created a strong impetus for healthcare transformation. Singapore is responding proactively and quickly.

26.             We are moving healthcare upstream, towards prevention. We implemented the Healthier SG strategy. We are investing heavily in our community care system and infrastructure, where we embed social support and health services. As a result, the centre of gravity of care is shifting towards the community.

27.             We are placing a stronger emphasis on mental health, which will likewise be anchored on preventive and community care, including in schools and preschools.  

28.             Healthcare manpower, from doctors, nurses to allied health professionals and community care workers, is expanding. More importantly, their roles will evolve over time, as we shift healthcare into the community.

29.             We are using more digital and AI technology in healthcare. They will not replace healthcare workers and the judgment of doctors, but they will remove tedious tasks, augment capabilities and create new opportunities.

30.             This is therefore a pivotal moment for healthcare. You are standing at the threshold of great change. Amidst great change, we as humans instinctively look for constants to hang on to.

31.             In healthcare, what is the constant? It is the human connection with your patients. Because at its heart, this is what medicine is about – service to the society, the community and to your patients. Despite their rapid advancement, AI and technology cannot replace this.

32.             In times of stress, uncertainty and setbacks, you will need to reach deep to your values of professionalism, integrity and compassion. Let these be your anchors.

33.             Patients may not remember your diagnosis or treatment plan. But they will remember if you listened, if you showed empathy, if you treated them with dignity. Let these be your guide and compass.

34.             So to the Class of 2025: Be the doctor who listens. The advocate who cares. The catalyst that embraces and brings about change for the better. Be the leader who inspires. Be the human who is resilient, unfazed by challenges, and lifts the spirits of others through your optimism. I have every confidence in the good that you will bring.

35.             Congratulations once again and I wish you all the best. Thank you.