Hear from our doctors, Drs Suzanna Bte Sulaiman and Jesse De Vries, on how they made the decision to join SingHealth , their working experience in their first department posting, as well as their aspirations and future expectations.  

" Coming home after being in Glasgow for a good number of years was indeed not easy.  I am glad that the decision was made for me. In a year, I had to ‘close’ all doors, ‘close personal chapters’ and tidy up all ‘corners’ in Glasgow.  Glasgow will always be a part of me.  Nevertheless, home is still home. Application to Singapore Medical Council and SingHealth had to be completed.  I had a lot of help from staff from SingHealth especially Angela Lok who never stopped replying my never-ending emails regarding the application and posting of hospital.

I chose to return to KKH O & G as I have been doing O & G for the past 3 ½ years.  I wanted lots of hands-on experience and with the cohort of patients seen in KKH, I believe, KKH is the place for me.  The first time for everything is always difficult. I started on 1 November 2004 with an open mind. I knew that I cannot and should compare with my workload or the environment as in the UK.  Since I graduated from UK, when I started work, everybody knew everybody.  I had to literally start from scratch. I have to say, I started the first month in Day Surgery in KKH.  The nurses in Day Surgery showed me the ropes. I was also ‘partnered’ with a more senior staff who advised what to do. The first month was about getting to know the hospital, staff, new colleagues and ensuring that you fit in.  And I am proud to say that I did.

Weather, different protocols, different trade names of drugs, and different setup of clinics…it needed a lot of personal patience to get used to.  At the start, mistakes were made, but as time goes by, everything became very easy. I made sure that work remains work.  Coping with stress is important.  One must know when you need to rest. 

It is understandable since everybody else graduated from NUS, everybody would know each other.  Once you learn to adapt and work together, the working environment is fine.

I spent the first year coming home to adapt to weather and different cultural environment.  Home is always home. Now, my next plan is to pass MRCOG and continue with the O & G training from where I stopped in UK before I left.  I hope to get on the traineeship after the MRCOG and continue doing what I love most O & G."

... Dr Suzanna Bte Sulaiman, joined SingHealth in November 2004, MBBS UK

"I am currently working in Department of Orthopaedic, Changi General Hospital as a medical officer and I am looking forward to advanced Surgical Trainee in orthopaedics after my MMed(Orthopaedic) assessment in coming March,2007. Within this year, I had been working in Java for 8 days as a volunteer worker in medical relief program for earthquake. This is an amazing exposure which was beyond my routine work in Hong Kong hospital. I should admit that I had to work hard in Singapore. That is also the reason why I moved to Singapore, in order to pay my effort and looking forward to a good training and become an orthopaedic surgeon. Learning different races’ culture and language are also good exposures. I learnt how to respect different culture as Singapore is a place with different races living in a harmony. .

... Dr Ambrose Yung, joined SingHealth in January 2006, MBBS Hong Kong