Volume 42 No.04 APR 2010 MICA (P) 103/02/2010

Professorial surgical unit at General Hospital, April 1978. Dr Ong is seated, sixth from right Interview with Dr Ong Siew Chey By Dr Wong Chiang Yin

Dr Ong Siew Chey is a well known past Professor of Surgery at the University of Singapore, and has taught many prominent clinicians, such as Prof Abu Rauff and Prof Ng Han Seong. He obtained his M.D. in the University of Chicago, before training in Surgery at the State University of Iowa Hospitals. Dr Ong was a lecturer at the University of Singapore from 1962-1966. He was a senior lecturer at the from 1966-1971, where he was a pioneer in open-heart surgery. He left for private practice in 1978 and retired in 2006. Since his retirement, he has published China Condensed: 5000 Years of History and Culture, and Tales from Old China – The Lighter Side of an Ancient Culture. FEATURE

WCY: Can you tell us a bit about the professional medical school without yourself? a Bachelor’s degree. Some schools would OSC: My father was an immigrant from not insist on the certificate, but others Fujian, China. He came to Malaya when like Harvard and Johns Hopkins would. he was 19. Eventually he went into tin I went to the University of Chicago, Volume 42 No.04 APRIL 2010 mining. He put me through university, which was rated second to Harvard in and I am forever grateful for that. medicine at the time. I spent five years I was born in a small town called there – four years in the medical school Editorial board Sungei Siput, 18 miles from . I and one year in internship. I was trained EDITOR attended a local Chinese primary school. in surgery mainly at the State University Dr Toh Han Chong The Japanese invasion of Malaya came in of Iowa Hospitals. I was certified as December 1941 at the end of my primary a surgeon by the American Board of Deputy Editor Dr Tan Yia Swam school, and I could not attend school for Surgery in early 1962 and subsequently four years. I resumed my schooling after spent six months as a cardiovascular the war at Chung Ling High School of research fellow in Oklahoma testing a MEMBERS , a Chinese-medium school. modified type of heart-lung machine. Prof Chee Yam Cheng I went overseas after Chung Ling, as I Dr Martin Chio A/Prof Daniel Fung was not qualified to enter the University WCY: With American degrees not Dr Hsu Liyang of Malaya in Singapore. I took the recognised in , how did you Dr Jayant V Iyer Cambridge certificate exams one year manage to register with the Malaysian Dr Lim Boon Leng before finishing high school. We were Medical Council? Did you manage to Dr Jeremy Lim very weak in oral English and practically find a job then? Dr Tan Poh Kiang all of us failed in oral English. I got a OSC: A friend taught me how to get Dr Tan Wu Meng Dr Teo Eng Swee Cuthbert Grade I certificate but with a mere pass around the system. First, I had to take in English. The following year, I took the Canadian Licentiate Exam. Having English as a supplementary subject and done that, I had to get a license in one ex-officio obtained a distinction. What we did not of the four Canadian provinces which Dr Chong Yeh Woei know was that the University of Malaya had reciprocity with the British Medical Dr Abdul Razakjr Omar would not accept two certificates; all the Council by a royal charter. After I subjects must be in one certificate. There passed the examinations, I wrote to all EDITORIAL MANAGER was nobody in our school to advise us on the four provinces for a license. Three of Ms Krysania Tan this regulation. them required citizenship or residence I started to look for other options. in the province, except for Prince EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE The alternative was to go to China for Edward Island – I didn’t even know Ms Gracia Ong university, but I would not have been where that was! The authorities told me allowed to return to Malaysia after. Finally to send them $80 for the license and I decided to go to the US. It was not that was how I got it. considered a suitable place for tertiary With the license, I registered with the The views and opinions expressed in all the articles education in those days; there was strong British Medical Council and later with are those of the authors. These are not the views of the Editorial Board nor the SMA Council unless prejudice against American education in the Malaysian Medical Council. specifically stated so in writing. The contents of the Malaysia and American degrees were not When I was trying to figure out what Newsletter are not to be printed in whole or in part without prior written approval of the Editor. recognised. I went to the University of I could do in Malaysia, I wrote to the California at Berkeley anyway. Director of Medical Services (DMS) in Published by the Kuala Lumpur to state my qualifications Singapore Medical Association, Level 2, Alumni Medical Centre, 2 College Road, WCY: What did you do in America and request for a position in surgery. Singapore 169850. after that? His reply was one line: “Application for a Tel: 6223 1264 Fax: 6224 7827 OSC: I was supposed to spend three to position must be made in person.” I had four years on pre-medical curriculum no idea if there really was a position in Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.sma.org.sg in order to get a degree in science or the first place! SMA Reg. No.: ROS 198/59 TAP arts. I was in a hurry; it was extremely One day I happened to be reading expensive to study in the US so I only a magazine and came across a write-up For classified advertisements, professional spent two years including summer about a charity organisation called Care- announcements and other advertising enquiries, please contact SMA. sessions. And since I found a medical Medico, which ran two hospitals – one school that would take me, I just entered in Africa and one in Kuala Lipis, Pahang.

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I wrote to them asking if they needed a WCY: What was it like in Singapore? was worrying and improvement seemed surgeon for Kuala Lipis and they replied OSC: In August 1962, I started as a unlikely. I was exploring some possibilities positively. I went for an interview in New lecturer, which is more or less like a in the US when it was suggested to me to York in early 1962. They feltI was suitable Registrar. My monthly salary was $820 try Singapore again. Eventually I went for for the position as I was a Malaysian, and without housing privilege because of an interview in Singapore and was offered said they would write to me in the next my temporary status, and I had to pay Associate Professorship. It was mentioned few months to finalise the details. $300 a month to rent a room from to me that I might have to take charge of I waited for some time but there was the University. Later I was asked to the department as Prof K.T. Chan was no news so I telephoned Dr Comanduras, apply for a regular appointment. At the leaving for private practice. I wasn’t keen who was in charge of the organisation. interview, there was opposition from on being Head but that’s how I came back He told me that he had made a trip to some members as I did not have FRCS. to Singapore. Malaysia in the interim and mentioned my I was accepted anyway with the provision In those days, the pay was very low. appointment to the Ministry of Health. that my American higher surgical I was getting under $2,000 a month and TheD MS was very unhappy and said that qualifications would not be recognised. could ill-afford to buy a house. But I was I could directly work for Malaysia without I thought it was pointless to take the job quite happy; I like institutional practice unnecessarily going through a foreign and I refused to sign the contract. and not private practice. organisation. My reply was that I tried but About two to three weeks before the When I started work again in got nowhere. In the end, Care-Medico expiry of my temporary contract, the Singapore in 1971, I was a Malaysian decided not to take me as it did not want to University informed me that my higher on employment pass. Two years later offend the Malaysian government. qualifications would be recognised. This I became a PR. To become a citizen, meant an increase of $120 per month in I needed to be a PR for 12 years even WCY: You left for Singapore then? pay. It was a matter of principle and not though the University wanted to sponsor OSC: I came to Singapore and called the money I was after. me. At that time, the University of up the DMS. I told him about my I worked under Prof Yeoh Ghim Singapore would not accept Malaysian qualifications and asked about a position Seng for about three months before he students; the places were exclusively in a surgical department. His reply was: left. The next surgical head was Laurence for Singaporeans. My children were in “We have more surgeons than we will Tinckler from England, and K.T. Chan secondary school and I had to worry ever need in Singapore.” Those were his took over later. about their tertiary education very soon. exact words and I will never forget that. The University of Malaya had a new With my pay, it was not possible to send He told me I could apply as a medical medical school in Petaling Jaya. Danaraj them abroad. I talked to the Registrar officer with no choice of posting and I was appointed Dean and given the of the University and asked whether would most likely be sent to Woodbridge responsibility of planning the University my children would be entitled to some where there was a shortage of doctors. Hospital. NK Yong was appointed as the consideration if I continued to work for At that time, I did not know a single inaugural Professor of Surgery and as we the University indefinitely. soul in Singapore. I was lying in bed started open-heart surgery using the heart- The answer was “no”, and because in a small hotel on a Sunday morning lung machine in Singapore, he asked me of this I had no choice but to leave. wondering what I should do when I to join him in Malaysia. However, it took It was 1978 when the Mount Elizabeth thought of the University in Singapore. us three years before we were given Hospital was being built. I started I looked up the telephone directory and the green light to start open-heart private practice in Plaza Singapura found that the home number of the surgery there. I was with the and later moved to Mount Dean of the Medical Faculty was listed! University of Malaya for five Elizabeth. Prior to that, there It was Dr T.J. Danaraj and I called him years, from 1966 to 1971, as were three private hospitals. that morning. The timing was probably a senior lecturer. There were The Mount Alvernia Hospital right as Prof Yeoh Ghim Seng was all sorts of problems and I was was the largest, and Gleneagles leaving, taking two other surgeons with trying to read the future. At Hospital and St. Mark him for private practice. Dr NK Yong one time they told us Hospital had rather was overseas on sabbatical leave and to be prepared to limited bed capacity. Surgical Unit A at SGH was going to teach in Malay It was difficult to get be badly depleted in staff. Dr Danaraj when there operating time for asked me to see him on Monday were no Malay patients morning. He offered me a one-year medical textbooks appointment to tide over their staffing available. The problem, and that was how I entered the trend of political University as a temporary lecturer. and racial situations

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in those days. Most of us practiced solo. We were not good in forming groups perhaps because there was little sub- specialisation then.

WCY: As a Professor in the seventies, what is it like to reflect on what you went through in the sixties? OSC: It was a time of change when Photo credit: College of Surgeons we introduced the M.Med system as an entry qualification. We had not yet started on the exit qualifications and other programmes. A lot of people therefore tended to go overseas for further training.

Dr Ong Siew Chey, 3rd College of Surgeons Lecturer, at the College of Surgeons Dinner 2008. WCY: Who were your role models? OSC: There were a few, and some were intense. I think the length of training is course, the Chinese have a saying: non-surgeons whom I thought were very not as significant as the intensity.I t is the . The English equivalent is “Jack of good. The best clinicianI have come intensity of training and depth of exposure all trades but master of none.” For sub- across was actually Prof Wong Hock that matters more. Now, I am out of it specialisation, the Chinese have another Boon, a paediatrician. I thought he was and no longer familiar with the situations. saying: , meaning that if you very knowledgeable and clinically astute. look at a leopard through a tube, all you Another was Prof Khoo Oon Teik, who WCY: Towards the end of your career, see is one spot. General practice and sub- was a good administrator of department. you have probably met surgeons much specialisation both have their good and He has contributed a lot to medicine in younger than yourself. What is your general bad points. There seems to be no perfect Singapore. He pioneered renal dialysis impression of them? Are they better than solution to our dilemma. and intensive care in Singapore and your generation at the same age? The main problem arises when patients was the driving force behind kidney OSC: To know a surgeon well, you have multi-organ conditions. When you transplantation. He founded the National really have to work with him. It is have some six consultants coming in for Kidney Foundation and I worked with difficult to assess surgeons through casual one single case, disorganisation, conflict him when I was sitting on the committee. acquaintance. The young surgeons today and confusion may be unavoidable. You The surgeons at that time – when I should be better. In fact, I feel that each need somebody with broad knowledge first came to Singapore – suffered from succeeding generation of surgeons should and experience in charge, someone who the lack of systematic training. There surpass their predecessors. That is how knows what is going on. was too much emphasis on technical and progress is made. I am gratified to note operative aspects and not so much on that several surgeons formerly in my WCY: China Condensed: 5000 Years of academic and scientific basis. surgical unit but not necessarily trained by History and Culture was written after me, have excelled in their work. Of course, you retired. How much time did you WCY: You have been through the young surgeons today have the advantage spend on it? residency programme. What do you of working in narrower fields. OSC: I did not work on the book think about it now that we are about to consistently; sometimes I would leave implement it? WCY: Do you have the feeling that the it for a month or two. On and off, it OSC: At that time, the American general surgeon is gone? took me a year and a half to gather the programme was superior to the British OSC: Yes. One time in a coffee lounge material. The reason why I wrote it is training, which was unorganised and in Mount Elizabeth, I felt disgusted when that through talking to my colleagues unstructured. Doctors aspiring to be a very young surgeon said scornfully, in the coffee lounge, I found that a lot surgeons sought a new posting every “What is general surgery? It is so basic.” of them would like to know something six months in different places, and General surgery is the hardest; it is the about China. It is difficult even for it depended on the luck of the draw foundation of surgery, without which the Chinese-educated people to plough whether one would get adequate training. surgeon may become a mere craftsman. through those thick books available. American training, on the other hand, Surgeons of my generation were the I then had the idea that I would write was structured and provided trainees with last of the general surgeons who had something simple one day, which would progressive responsibility. It was very to do everything from head to toe. Of highlight the important facts about

sma News april 2010 5 FEATURE Photo credit: College News, Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1977; 59(4): 353 Examiners in the Final MMed (Surgery) examination, August 1976. Dr Ong Siew Chey is seated second from right.

Chinese history and culture that people That cannot be changed because it is in OSC: I retired at the age of 74. I thought could read easily. our instincts. Without an effective legal that was old enough. As a surgeon, you get system, society would be chaotic. called at all hours, day and night. As you WCY: Out of the four great classical My feeling is that ideally we should get older, you do not take that too well. novels, which is your favourite? Who is absorb all the good points of different I finally decided that enough was enough your favourite character? schools, including Western schools of and retired to do something else and OSC: Three Kingdoms is my favourite. thought, to form our core values. enjoy myself. It is a fascinating book even though it During my 48 years in surgical is partially fictional. The mainstream WCY: The scientific approach is training and working as a surgeon, my version Records of Three Kingdoms by something that the Chinese are not very time was not my own. If I went overseas Chen Shou is factual but dry. I don’t good at. It seems to have declined from on a trip, I would not be enjoying think anyone enjoys reading it. the Ming dynasty. myself. For example, I would be making Everyone worships Zhuge Liang who OSC: I think the Imperial Examination phone calls from Vancouver to check was without equal even though he failed system of China, which began in the sixth on how my patients in the hospital were in the end. Another way of looking at century and lasted till early 20th century, getting along. I finally decided to free it is that he was not really that smart to was responsible to a great extent for myself of worries. finish the job. China’s lag in science. The Examination’s syllabus, which was confined to literature, WCY: Do you have any regrets about WCY: Do you consider yourself poetry and other non-scientific subjects, retiring? a Confucianist? led to the complete neglect of science. OSC: No, I don’t think so. I can still OSC: I don’t think so. I do not subscribe The Examination system had consumed work but enough is enough. completely or exclusively to any school the best brains of China for some 14 of Chinese philosophical thought. I am centuries. Among many scholars, abstract WCY: Any advice for people who want not a Confucianist, Daoist or Mo-ist and philosophical thinking held sway over to be surgeons? I am not an anglophile. However, I do realistic scientific thinking. OSC: First of all, one must be willing to subscribe to the Confucian teaching of Another reason for lack of scientific work hard. As I said, one’s time is not one’s , which teaches human virtues that approach in Chinese culture is probably own, but if you can take it, then it is ok. are also known to many other cultures. inherent in the language itself. Old Philosophical Daoism, which advocates Chinese words and expressions tended to WCY: A lot has been said about the “non-action” and non-interference may be inexact and ambiguous in meaning. need for good hands. Do you think be rather impractical. To me, human hands are important? beings are born with basic animal WCY: Some say surgeons never retire. OSC: There are people who are exceptionally instincts and tend to fight for survival What prompted you to retire and when do good with their hands. They can do and personal gain by selfish means. you think is a good or right time to do so? microsurgery and join tiny blood vessels

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in mice. Most surgeons are just of average China around 1949. Long Ying Tai has a – I could hardly pronounce English dexterity, and I think that is good enough. Ph.D. and taught in several universities, words and these French, I have no idea Overemphasis on technique without including the University of Heidelberg in how they pronounce their words. So I knowing the principles is not good. I have Germany and a university in New York. took one and a half years of German worked with some who are technically instead and at that time I managed minded – they can do very good work but WCY: There has been a lot of emphasis on to learn to read scientific German perhaps the operation never should have bilingualism. What is bilingualism to you? even though I could not speak it. The been done. Some are obsessed with speed OSC: It is good to know more than grammatical rules of German are quite and would race against the clock. They are one language. Many Europeans are fixed and have fewer variations than in potentially dangerous. multilingual, and I am quite impressed English. The purpose was to be trained by that. Their languages are similar, but to read scientific German. WCY: Are any of your children in Chinese and English are diametrically Ever since I have not used German medicine? opposite. For me, if I do not know at all and it is now mostly gone. When I OSC: My eldest son is a surgeon; he Chinese at all, it would be easier for went to Germany, the only thing I could worked for the National University me to learn English. However, having do in German was to buy ice cream! Hospital for two years but is now in the learnt Chinese, I just cannot avoid US. He attended medical school and mental translation when speaking WCY: So what would your advice be? underwent general surgical residency English. It takes a long time to learn OSC: You have just got to use it. as well as subspecialty training in trauma the English grammar and the English Another thing is to get students to read and critical care in the US. My second ways of expression. outside of their school texts. Without son is an engineer in material sciences. this, it is quite impossible to master the My daughter is a lawyer. WCY: Do you think in English or Mandarin? language. You need to be interested in OSC: I don’t know what I think in what you read. To some extent, I think WCY: What do you do in your free time? anymore. In the old days I used to that to learn a language, you need to OSC: I travel quite a bit. At home I think in Mandarin and try to translate. have some respect for the language first. do gardening. I also exercise by brisk My dreams used to be in Mandarin but Before, Mandarin was considered a walking and swimming. I read and do one day I dreamt in English and woke peasant’s language. With that prejudice a bit of writing when I am in the mood. up in sweat. Now either language just already in your mind, it is very difficult In addition, I attend both medical and comes naturally. to learn. In some families, I think this is non-medical talks. Last week I attended I think we have to use a language often the problem. two. One was by the Nobel Prize to develop the familiarity. Now, I have Laureate Zhen Ling, who gave some trouble with my Mandarin when WCY: What about dialects? a talk at the Nanyang Technological looking for correct expressions because I OSC: I speak Hokkien and Cantonese. University. At the age of 88, he is don’t use the language often enough. My children are not very good in looking younger these days. Hokkien but they can still converse. The other talk was by Wang Meng, WCY: It’s easier now with many However, I feel that the dialect spoken a prolific writer and one time Minister for Mandarin channels on cable television. by the average Singaporean is usually Culture of China. He gave a talk at NUS, OSC: Yes, I subscribe to them and watch at a very superficial and crude level, sponsored by the the China Society, on them quite frequently, but listening and perhaps only good for marketing. Most Chinese literature in the globalised world. speaking are not the same. I once attended dialect-speaking people in Singapore a talk where three people stood up to ask have difficulty with abstract terms. WCY: Who are some of your favourite questions. Two of them were obviously I am pragmatic. I think there is authors? from China and rattled off in Mandarin no point in promoting dialects and OSC: At present, my favourite author is very well. The third was from Singapore. we might just as well use Mandarin. Yu Qiu Yu. He writes on the places he has He started in very good Mandarin but Language is a tool and its main use is to visited in and outside China with respect got stuck halfway, trying to look for help us communicate. Some people tend to the culture and history. His recent book appropriate expressions and words. It is to be chauvinistic and claim, for example, Hidden China is based on his travels to very difficult to be effectively bilingual. that Hokkien was the official language of some obscure places in China. His style is You need practice. When I was China during the Tang dynasty. It could to the point. I do not like to go through in pre-med, there was a rule at that be correct, but it is already history. a heap of unnecessary words. time that one must take up a modern I just started on a book by a very foreign language to qualify for medical WCY: Thank you for your time, popular author in Taiwan, Long Ying Tai. school. Chinese was not counted. I Dr Ong. It has been a most interesting Her latest book is about the civil war in tried French and got frightened away interview.

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