Speech by Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony

SPEECH BY MR GAN KIM YONG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE LEE KONG CHIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE WHITE COAT CEREMONY, 15 AUGUST 2013

Mr Koh Boon Hwee, Chairman, NTU Board of Trustees

Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine Governing Board

Professor Bertil Andersson, President, Nanyang Technological University

Sir Keith O’Nions, Rector and President of Imperial College London

Professor Dermot Kelleher, Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine

Prof Chee Yam Cheng, Group CEO, National Healthcare Group

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

1.               Good afternoon. It gives me great pleasure to join you here at the inaugural White Coat Ceremony of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.

2.               Since its establishment by the Nanyang Technological University and Imperial College London in 2010, many have made significant contributions to prepare the school for this moment. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board, faculty and staff of the School for your commitment and efforts. I would also like to thank NTU, Imperial College, the School’s primary healthcare partner, the National Healthcare Group, as well as all donors, for the strong support you have given to ensure the successful launch of the School.

Meeting Singapore’s Healthcare Needs

3.               Singapore’s healthcare landscape is evolving, with an ageing population, changing lifestyles and rising life expectancies. Chronic diseases and long term medical conditions will become more prevalent.  Consequently, the demand for healthcare services will rise.

4.               This changing landscape will require our healthcare professionals to take a different approach to care. Our doctors cannot hope to treat and cure chronic conditions with a simple prescription or surgery. They will need to play a greater role in promoting healthy living and facilitating the early detection of lifestyle risks that could lead to chronic diseases. They will also need to educate and support patients in managing their conditions to prevent complications and to help them stay well. Care will also be increasingly provided outside of hospitals and in the community, so that it is more accessible and nearer to where Singaporeans live.

5.               To meet our future healthcare needs, the Ministry of Health is progressively expanding and linking up our healthcare facilities to deliver integrated, patient-centric care across the various settings, whether it is in acute hospitals, polyclinics, or long term care facilities.

 6.               As we ramp up infrastructure capacity, we will also need to train more healthcare professionals, including doctors. We have expanded our local medical training pipelines with the steady increase in annual intake at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. With the opening of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, our medical intakes have grown by 34 percent over the past five years. The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine will be a key pipeline to ensure that we continue to maintain a core of locally-trained doctors.

7.       Our challenge does not end there. Doctors play a key role in leading and transforming our healthcare system. Beyond training sufficient doctors to meet our needs, we will also need to groom the next generation of healthcare leaders who can continue to innovate and develop new models of affordable, patient-centric care.  I am encouraged to learn that as part of the School’s Long-Term Patient Project, students will be attached to patients with chronic diseases for a period of two years to observe how they cope with their conditions. This will develop the students’ empathy towards their patients and increase their understanding of a patient’s needs so as to ultimately improve the care and outcomes for the patients. The School has also set aside curriculum time to train students on how to handle the all-important doctor-patient relationship, and develop students’ soft skills, such as interpersonal communication, leadership and inculcate in them a culture of life-long learning – all for the purpose of nurturing doctors who will deliver compassionate, quality and patient-centred care.

 Public Service Ethos

8.               With the admission of its first cohort of 54 students, today’s ceremony marks the start of a new chapter for the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. To our students, I believe that this will be a defining and proud moment for every one of you and your families, and I am sure you are all eager to begin your journey into medicine.

9.               As the inaugural cohort of students, you will become ambassadors for the School. When you graduate, I urge you to serve with a strong sense of professionalism, public service values and ethics, and set an example for future generations of students. As you will realise in your clinical attachments, the public healthcare service offers a rich diversity of career pathways for its doctors. Public sector doctors play an important role not just in providing clinical care to Singaporeans, but also in educating and training the next generation of doctors. Doctors in the public sector will also have the opportunity to apply their scientific knowledge and clinical skills to research on better treatments for illnesses, and develop new drugs and technologies to improve medical care.  Others will advance to take on key leadership roles in our public healthcare institutions in time to come.  Whichever path you choose, you should stay focused on one single common purpose: to provide good care for our patients, regardless of their background.

10.           Your patient’s interest must always come first.  Ultimately, medicine is a noble profession and membership calls for not just great commitment and passion, but also a clear moral obligation.

Conclusion

11.     The journey to become part of the team to look after the health of Singaporean has now begun. I am confident that the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine will prepare you well to meet the healthcare needs of Singaporeans in the future. I wish the School and its students every success on your journey ahead.

12.      Thank you.