news Farrer Park Hospital 24-hour Walk-in Clinic Located directly above Farrer Park MRT station, our team focuses on oering patients prompt medical attention. The Ambulance drop-o and Diagnostic Imaging Suite are designed in close proximity to the Clinic, enabling patients to transit quickly with immediate access to needed services. Other Services Include: Outpatient Consultations Vaccination Medical/Surgical Emergencies Chronic Disease Management Medical Screening Farrer Park Hospital 24-hour Walk-in Clinic is open everyday throughout festive seasons and Public Holidays. Level 2, Farrer Park Hospital, 1 Farrer Park Station Road Singapore 217562 | Tel: +65 6705 2999 COMFORT. FAIRNESS. VALUE. Farrer Park Hospital 4 5 24 EDITORIAL EDITORIAL PROFESSIONALISM THE EDITor’s MUSINGS FIGHTING FOR THE PROFESSIONALISM IN Dr Tan Yia Swam GOOD OF HUMANITY RISK MANAGEMENT A/Prof Daniel Fung Dr Seow Wan Tew and Vol. 48 No. 1 2016 24-hour Walk-in Clinic Dr T Thirumoorthy Located directly above Farrer Park MRT station, our team focuses on oering EDITORIAL 6 28 BOARD patients prompt medical attention. The Ambulance drop-o and EXEC SERIES Editor FEATURE Diagnostic Imaging Suite are designed in close proximity to the Clinic, Dr Tan Yia Swam NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES: HIGH INDEX OF THE SINGAPORE enabling patients to transit quickly with immediate access to needed services. Deputy Editors SUSPICION NEEDED IN CLINICAL SERVICES MEDICAL COUNCIL Dr Tina Tan Dr Lambert Low, Dr Melvyn Zhang and DISCIPLINARY PROCESS Dr Tan Tze Lee Dr Christopher Cheok Lek Siang Pheng and Editorial Advisors Mar Seow Hwei A/Prof Daniel Fung A/Prof Cuthbert Teo Dr Toh Han Chong 8 10 32 Members Dr Jayant V Iyer FEATURE PRESIDENt’s forum SMA CHARITY FUND Dr Natalie Koh MARIJUANA LOST IN TRANSLATION NEW ONLINE GIVING Dr Leong Choon Kit DEMYSTIFIED Dr Wong Tien Hua PLATFORM! Dr Jipson Quah Dr Melvyn Zhang and Dr Jonathan Tan Dr Christopher Cheok Dr Jimmy Teo CALENDAR SMA EVENTS EX-OFFICIOS MAR – APR 2016 Dr Wong Tien Hua Dr Daniel Lee Hsien Chieh 12 33 EDITORIAL OFFICE COUNCIL NEWS FROM THE HEART Senior Manager SMA OFFERS PROGRAMMES TO HELP FOREIGN AN EVENING WITH Sarah Lim DOCTORS ASSIMILATE HERE SNOOPY AND CHARLIE Senior Executive BROWN Sylvia Thay Dr Jade Kua Editorial Executive Jo-Ann Teo ADVERTISING AND 13 14 34 PARTNERSHIP EVENT INTERVIEW INDULGE Li Li Loy Denise Jia WHEN THE FORCE MARIJUANA: MUCH ADO ABOUT Other Services Include: Tel: (65) 6223 1264 AWAKENS YES OR NO? DRACULA! Email: [email protected] Mellissa Ang Dr Ravindran Kanesvaran, Dr Juliana Poh Outpatient Consultations Vaccination Dr Adrian Wang and Dr Alex Yeo Medical/Surgical Emergencies Chronic Disease Management PUBlisher Singapore Medical Association Medical Screening 2 College Road 16 19 Level 2, Alumni Medical INSIGHT EULOGY Centre Singapore 169850 A GLIMPSE INTO THE IN MEMORY OF Tel: (65) 6223 1264 Past — MEDICINE IN PROF FENG PAO HSII Fax: (65) 6224 7827 SINGAPORE (PART 5) Prof Fong Kok Yong Farrer Park Hospital 24-hour Walk-in Clinic is Email: [email protected] A/Prof Cuthbert Teo URL: http://www.sma.org.sg open everyday throughout festive seasons and UEN No.: S61SS0168E Public Holidays. DESIGN agencY 20 22 38 Oxygen Studio Designs Pte Ltd GP MATTERS OPINION AIC SAYS Level 2, Farrer Park Hospital, 1 Farrer Park Station Road PRINTER SETTING THE PACE ON CALL AND FEELING GUIDING YOU THROUGH Singapore 217562 | Tel: +65 6705 2999 Sun Rise Printing & AHEAD STRESSED CHAS AUDIT: A QUICK Supplies Pte Ltd Dr Leong Choon Kit Dr Tan Yia Swam REFERENCE (PART 2) Opinions expressed in SMA News reflect the views of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial board of SMA News or the Singapore Medical Association (SMA), unless this is clearly specified. SMA does not, and cannot, accept any responsibility for the veracity, accuracy or completeness of any statement, opinion or advice contained in the text or advertisements published in SMA News. Advertisements of products and services that appear in SMA News do not imply endorsement for the products and services by SMA. All material appearing in SMA News may not be reproduced on any platform including electronic or in print, or COMFORT. FAIRNESS. VALUE. transmitted by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the Editor of SMA News. Requests for reproduction should be directed to the SMA News editorial office. Written permission must also be obtained before any part of SMA News is stored in any retrieval system of any nature. 4 editorial Personally speaking, 2015 was a good year for me. I started building up a practice, made some new friends and renewed several old friendships. My family remains in good health and most significantly, we welcomed a new baby. For the country, joy at 50 years of independence was tempered with grief at the passing of MM Lee Kuan Yew. I was saddened and alarmed by the many natural disasters and man-made tragedies worldwide — earthquakes, floods, plane crashes, wars, refugees, mass gun shootings, Ebola and acts of terrorism. The birth of my second son has perhaps strengthened my maternal instincts to nurture and protect. There’s also a strong urge to leave behind a better world for the children (and of course, raise them up well to be deserving of it!). Following this train of thought, I am reminded of the Chinese saying “ ” (doctors with parental hearts) — it means that doctors should love医者父母心 and care for their patients as they do their children. This would also mean appropriate chastisement when necessary and not pandering to their every whim and demand, which can only lead to a spoilt child. There is now an attitudinal trend towards referring to patients as “customers” and doctors as “healthcare providers”, which is detrimental to the doctor-patient relationship in Dr Tan Yia Swam is an associate the long run. This is a global shift that has been derided by many. Whether or not consultant at the Breast this trend can be reversed remains to be seen. Department of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She continues to juggle the commitments of SMA’s slogan, “For Doctors, For Patients”, succinctly sums up the role of this being a doctor, a mother, a wife professional body. We play a delicate part in protecting and nurturing doctors, so that and the increased duties of SMA they can better look after their patients. The profile of our membership is changing, News Editor. She also tries to keep and SMA News will keep on evolving with the times to meet the expectations of time aside for herself and friends, our members. Some things will stay the same — we will always carry articles on both old and new. professionalism, patient anecdotes, volunteerism and personal reflections. To spice things up, the “Indulge” column will be expanded to include other interesting hobbies that doctors pursue, though its mainstay will still be food and travel. So far, we have covered diving, flying and cooking. I’ve heard of doctors attending sommelier, barista or pole-dancing classes! Yia SwamEditor We will also have themed issues in the coming year, to be announced as the dates approach. There will be one soon on “Physician Health”, where we will cover stories on how doctors keep themselves healthy as well as cope when they or their loved ones fall ill. We would also like to revisit “Families in Medicine”, a spin-off from a Siblings in Medicine series from some years ago. Do keep writing in and if you ever receive an invitation from my team to write, I hope you will agree to share your experience with us! Don’t be shy. We wish you all good health and happiness in 2016. SMA News / jan 2016 editorial 5 Fighting for the Good Doctors have always been on the forefront of social change and there is a long and venerable list of medical doctors who fought and are fighting for the problems they see in society. While advocacy for patients’ rights is often seen as part of a doctor’s duties, advocating for social injustice is not as clear-cut. Dobson and colleagues1 described the two forms of advocacy. One is that of advocating for individual patients, a role that we are all familiar and comfortable with. This was termed agency. Many doctors advocate for their patients in terms of better treatments and subsidised care. It is not hard to voice out on areas which we are comfortable to speak of, such as healthcare-related advocacy. One example is when we need to provide for medications which are expensive yet critical for helping patients with a disease like cancer. This form of advocacy comes naturally for doctors. Dobson et al speaks of another form of advocacy which they termed activism. This form is described by the American Medical Association as advocating for “social, economic, educational and political change”. This is far less common and some may tell us that we should enter politics to achieve it. I beg to differ. There are many issues that politicians and governments cannot address. I would like to think that because doctors are often held in high regard, what we say and do can have social, economic, educational and even political impact. The Daniel volunteers with the Singapore Medical Council Ethical Code and Ethical Guidelines2 state that we should Singapore Association for Mental “participate in activities contributing to the good of the community, including public Health, Singapore Children's Society health education”. In Singapore, we have doctors who advocate for specific causes and Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' and also doctors who enter politics and by default act as social activists.