Your SingHealth Story

"My wife, Roszalita, was a Dental Surgery Assistant (DSA) student at National Dental Centre Singapore (NDCS) when we got married. I witnessed how she not only excelled in her training but also the work that came after. Her dedication hadn't gone unnoticed as she was singled out by her then-doctor to join him in private practice. It was an exciting time of her career as they set up the clinic and then worked together for many years. Her career took a pause when our family needs evolved but when it was time to rejoin the workforce, she joined NDCS again. She is now a Senior DSA with Sengkang General Hospital. While this is not my story per se, I'm proud that my wife is the inspiration behind my decision to join healthcare.”

- Mr Abdul Latif Jaafar, Biomedical Engineer, Changi General Hospital.

“A Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, once said, “The only constant in life is change.”

This is especially true in nursing; one recent change is the use of technology in our training. We can now conveniently attend e-learning courses online anywhere and at any time. Games are also incorporated into e-learning to make the process more interesting and interactive for learners.

In my experience, the best way to prepare ourselves for change is to embrace it and stay united. As long as we support one another, there is nothing too difficult to overcome as a team.”

- Ms Su Mei Zhen, Nurse Clinician, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

“As a Nurse Counsellor, I provide support for cancer patients on their treatment journey, as well as educate the public about cancer and the importance of screening through workshops and public forums.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to make use of technology to hold our workshops and forums online. Familiarising myself with this new way of doing things was a big hurdle for me, but I gave my best to learn in order to continue providing support for cancer patients.

My motivation for my work is simply to help my patients and see them happy. When patients that I’ve counselled a long time ago still remember me by name, it touches my heart and inspires me to continue doing what I do.”

- Ms Teo Lay Choo, Senior Staff Nurse, Cancer Education & Information Services, National Cancer Centre Singapore

“Prior to becoming a medical doctor, I did research work at Singapore General Hospital. During this time, I witnessed the enthusiasm of the clinicians who were working to bring their research ideas from bench to bedside to benefit the patients. I was amazed and touched by their desire to help people who were complete strangers to them. This left a lasting impression on me, and shaped my decision to study medicine and become a physician so that I can serve others in the same way.”

- Dr. Mohamad Fahamy Koenitz Bin Iskandar, Sengkang General Hospital
 
 

“When I joined Singapore General Hospital in 1969 as a nurse, the hospital still followed many of the manual processes from the colonial days. Injections were given in glass syringes, and stainless steel needles had to be boiled and reused. We even had to sharpen our needles manually. Now, we use syringe pumps which can be monitored and guided electronically. In the old days, the injection vials came in larger doses but now, with better technology, the vials come in single doses to avoid contamination. There have been a lot of improvements to ensure patient safety.

After 44 years of service, I decided to step down as Nurse Manager and join the Materials Management Department at SGH. In 2014, I joined Alexandra Hospital where I helped to source and purchase equipment to set up Sengkang General Hospital (SKH).

I have now been at SKH for five years. Throughout my career, I’ve seen the tremendous transformation of Singapore’s healthcare system. Most processes are now managed through IT solutions and we are looking at further technological advancements as we journey into the future.”

- Ng Suat San, Senior Executive, Operations, Sengkang General Hospital

“Once I chanced upon a mother sobbing in silence as she held her sick child. I stopped what I was doing and instinctively put a hand around the mother’s shoulders to comfort her. In that moment, it felt as though there was a transfer of emotions from the mother to my heart. It was a moment of intense empathy through a nurse’s touch.

A patient once told me, ‘We don’t need your sympathy; we need your empathy, and your healthcare knowledge’.

A simple act of love and a touch of compassion from your heart goes a long way in healing a broken spirit.”

- Ms Cheryl Seet, Senior Staff Nurse, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

“One fond memory I have as a nursing student was when I had a clinical attachment in a nursery to care for newborns. I was given the opportunity to feed them, change their diapers and bathe them. I quickly learnt that caring for a newborn is different from caring for an adult patient. As I had no experience with bathing newborns, I was fortunate to have my nursing lecturer by my side who guided me on how to hold and care for these fragile young patients. Many years later, I am grateful to be able to render the same care to my own newborn baby.

With today’s rapid advancement of technology in healthcare, using artificial intelligence or simulation may facilitate with learning but nothing is more meaningful than the humanistic connection between a teacher and a student.”

- Ms Mas Linda Mohamad, Senior Nurse Educator, Nursing Education, Changi General Hospital

“When I joined Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in 1988 as an IT long-range planner, as part of the hospital’s restructuring team, I knew I would be in for an exciting time but never did I expect to it to be the start of a 33-year journey in healthcare.

After the restructuring of SGH in 1989, I was asked to help setup the IT department at the soon-to-be restructured Toa Payoh Hospital (TPH). After a five-year stint there, I rejoined SGH to take on an overseas posting to provide consultancy in setting up a 220-bed private hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia. Thereafter, I was also involved in setting up another 550-bed private hospital building project in Delhi, India. I travelled quite extensively providing consultancy training in countries like Kuwait, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Vietnam and Myanmar from 2002 – 2009. In 2012, I joined the Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) team at the start of the project planning phase.

Building a new hospital is like running a marathon, and it was a humbling and fulfilling experience seeing the SKH building project through till its completion. Much credit has to be given to the entire SKH team. My involvement in setting up two overseas hospitals from ground zero and participating in the restructuring of SGH and TPH also helped me tremendously.

Through the years, I’ve witnessed the immense advancements in IT and medical technology. I have seen the automation of medical records, implementation of a real-time locating system to track the movement of patients and key items, auto-storage and retrieval of drugs and instruments as well as using automated guided vehicles to transport trolleys and beds etc. Tele-consultation and robotic surgery are now a reality too.

With patients now being empowered to play an active role in taking charge of their own health, healthcare is no longer confined to just provided within hospital facilities. We are now talking about an entire healthcare ecosystem.”

- Mr Richard Thong, Director, Operations & Commissioning Secretariat (ComSec), Sengkang General Hospital

“I am a product of the classroom which was unidirectional and didactic in nature. There was more reliance on books and physical journal papers for academic research back then, whereas, today, nearly everything is available online. Back then, teachers may not receive feedback from students so easily. Now, learners have instant access to feedback portals and may use social media to give immediate feedback to their teachers. There has been a conscious movement also from a pedagogical perspective – moving from a behaviourist to constructivist approach, where students today are more actively involved in self-discovery and constructing their own knowledge, versus passively receiving information.”

- Dr Selena Young, Head & Senior Principal Speech and Language Therapist, Craniofacial Pathology, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

“I have been working at Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) as a housekeeper for two years and have been stationed at the isolation ward for about one and a half years. When the hospital recently changed its housekeeping service provider, I requested to join the new service provider to continue working at SKH. The familiar environment and colleagues help me cope with missing my family in China. Working in a high-risk environment is not easy, especially during the pandemic where I have to do eight to 14-hour shifts in full PPE. I also had to learn to tackle the stigma that comes with working in a high-risk setting, but I take pride in creating a clean and safe environment for patients and the medical team because doing so is also part of saving lives.”

Despite her small and unassuming stature, Ms Chen Feng Li’s vigour and dedication to her work at the Isolation Ward rivals none. Her fearless sacrifice during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a true inspiration to us all.​

​“During my initial years as Head of the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department at Toa Payoh Hospital, the patient load was extremely high due to infectious diseases, undernutrition, poor living environment and neglected health conditions due to poverty, as well as accident casualties. When the new site of Changi General Hospital (CGH) was finalised, we planned for the A&E Department to have two separate entrances – one for patients who were able to walk and the other for patients sent to the Hospital by ambulances, so that we can attend to patients efficiently.

Care has also improved tremendously over the years. With the help of technology, the Electronic Medical Records system was implemented. Today, we have a multidisciplinary trauma team comprising trauma surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, physiotherapists, medical social workers, pharmacists and nurses to provide one-stop quality care.

I have been inspired by several great mentors during my career, including the late Professor N Balachandran, one of the pioneers of Orthopaedics in Singapore. It is now my personal mission to pass the torch as I impart my skills and knowledge to the next generation of physicians and surgeons.”

- Low Boon Yong (A/Prof), Senior Consultant, Orthopaedic Surgery, Changi General Hospital

“Aren’t we grateful that most clinical documents have now gone digital? I remember how I used to always carry around my trusty green highlighter to strike off inactive medication orders and messages that were no longer applicable on the clinical documents. Gone are the days where we had to decipher handwritten orders after the patients’ case notes were finally returned after the doctors’ rounds.”

- Seri Rahayu Binte Mohamed Salleh, Assistant Nurse Clinician, Sengkang General Hospital
 
 
 

“My SingHealth journey of almost three decades began when I joined the old Kandang Kerbau Hospital (KKH) in 1992. I worked in the Satellite Pharmacy, covering the Gynaecology and Paediactric wards, as we operated with fewer staff back then.

Today, our work processes have improved drastically with the help of advanced technology such as the automation systems at the Inpatient and Outpatient Pharmacies which pick and package the prescribed medication, making things more efficient and safer for our patients as this eliminates medication errors.

I am proud to be a SingHealth staff, and it brings me great joy to have served our patients for so many years.”

- Ohn Myint, Senior Pharmacy Technician, Pharmacy Department, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

“I started out as a typist in Tan Tock Seng Hospital in 1977, and saw typewriters change to word processors, then to desktops and laptops. Living through two pandemics in the healthcare sector has certainly been memorable. Like with COVID-19, we had to take our temperature daily during the SARS period. Back then, we recorded our temperature using pen and paper, and sent out SMS reminders to individual doctors.

I have been with the Neurology department for nearly half my career and saw how NNI has grown, with the increase in number of doctors, administrative staff and specialties. Having come so far, I believe Singapore’s healthcare system has a bright future and we will continue to raise the standard in patient care, research and education."

- Catherine Tay, Executive Secretary, Executive Office, National Neuroscience Institute

"When I joined nursing, the hospital used paper inpatient medical records. Each time we serve medication to our inpatients, two staff will have to counter-sign. Transitioning to an online Closed Loop Medication Management system made me nervous because I don't consider myself as very IT-savvy. With hands-on training I've been able to overcome my fear and find the new system quite useful in ensuring we administer the correct medication to patients"

- Nur Sharifah Azurah Binte Borhan, Senior staff Nurse, KK Women's and Children's Hospital
 

"When I was 16, I had a fall which left me with a cracked patella and a ligament that was torn in pieces. I had to undergo multiple surgical procedures to reconstruct my knee. At that age, I felt it was necessary to put on a brave face for my family when they visited me in hospital. But at night, I cried from the pain of my injury and felt useless because I was unable to move on my own.

A nurse in the ward reached out to me after she noticed me crying. From that day, she made it her personal mission to help me get through that dark phase of my life. She talked to me, joked with me and emotionally nursed me back to health. With her encouragement, I pushed myself to heal faster and learn how to walk again.

I chose to become a nurse because of the lasting impression she had on me. Beyond physical care, patients also need someone to be there for them emotionally. I want to be able to make that difference in their journey to recovery."

- Jesminder Kaur, Senior Staff Nurse, National Dental Centre Singapore

“My late mother was a head nurse at a hospital in the Philippines. She was strong willed and worked till her last days, even though she was on dialysis and blind in her right eye. She was my inspiration to become a nurse and continues to be my source of strength as I care for my patients.

She passed away last year, during the thick of the pandemic when boarders were closed. Six months after that, my father too passed away from terminal lung cancer. This time though, I was able to return home to care for him briefly before he passed away.

I’m so grateful to my colleagues for giving me the space to grieve, and helping me cope with the pain of losing both parents. Today, I continue to honour my family as I care for the elderly patients at Sengkang Community Hospital’s rehabilitation ward, just as they were my own parents.”

- Ms Pulgan Shenna Grace Acosta, Staff Nurse, Sengkang Community Hospital

“I used to work as a Validation Engineer in the pharmaceuticals industry. My days were spent dealing more with machines than people and that made me want to look for a more meaningful career.

So I decided to take the leap to pursue a career in nursing. My wife, who used to be a nurse, was fully supportive despite us having a two-year-old son and a second child on the way.

Balancing studies and family responsibilities was not easy. Being a full-time student also meant that I had to make adjustments to manage our family finances. But with the support of my family and friends, I was able to make the leap. Today, I feel immense fulfilment being part of patients’ recovery journey.”

- Mr Lim See Han, Staff Nurse, Sengkang Community Hospital

“I remember feeling nervous when I had to perform my first intravenous (IV) cannulation on a patient. This motivated me and my colleagues from the Institute of Advanced Nursing to develop the NIMBLE (Nursing Innovation in Mobility-based Learning) IV cannulation system, a serious game which replicates real-life scenarios and provides real-time feedback for nurses training in the procedure.

Nurses can hone their healthcare communication and critical thinking skills by conversing with a virtual patient. During the game, they will don a smart glove with woven-in sensors that tracks the motion and pressure applied on a 3D printed arm, which can be varied to mimic different patient profiles, allowing for more efficient and objective assessment.

Looking ahead, I hope to see more of how technology and innovation can plug the gaps in the way we train and assess our nurses.”

- Ms Andrea Choh, Nurse Clinician, Singapore General Hospital

“After reading numerous studies on how engagement games could help the elderly improve their physical health and cognitive abilities, my team and I implemented a series of video games to engage our elderly patients with dementia.

After each game session, our patients were observed to be calmer, happier, and were able to rest for longer periods. When strict visitation guidelines were implemented during the pandemic, the games also helped keep them engaged while adhering to safe management measures at the ward.

We are also working with physiotherapists to evaluate how the games can be adapted to facilitate or enhance rehabilitation exercises for patients who have limited body movements, and we look forward to the possibility of expanding to other wards to benefit many more patients in future.”

- Ms Yuan Long Xia, Senior Nurse Manager, Singapore General Hospital

“Jobs were hard to come by in the 1970s. I had to choose between working in a factory or being a nurse. Opportunities for further training were also fewer, and it was only after 10years of becoming a nurse that I had my turn to be trained in midwifery. Today, there are abundant learning and career development opportunities. In KKH, specialty-trained nurses run Midwife-led Clinics to care for women with low-risk pregnancies from 24 to 28 weeks of gestation and follow them through to labour and delivery. Just like in the United Kingdom and Australia, we take on some roles previously done by doctors, such as seeing patients during consultations and performing episiotomy repairs during delivery. This expansion of roles enables us to practice at the top of our licenses.”

- Assistant Director of Nursing at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Ms Hoon Siew Jong, has joined countless parents in welcoming their babies over a career that spans 50 years! A self-described people person, Ms Hoon’s role recently expanded to include overseeing nursing standards at KKH’s outpatient clinics. She looks forward to further integration of technological developments – such as artificial intelligence and remote care delivery – into healthcare.

“It has been more than 51 years since I joined the Radiotherapy Department at Singapore General Hospital. The most impactful experience of my career has got to be a trip I took to the United States with the World Health Organisation Fellowship in 1971. Back then, whenever cancer patients were referred to our department for therapy, many saw little chance of recovery. But during this trip, I saw that with greater awareness about cancer and its treatments, people would see radiotherapy in a very different light.

We are more optimistic about cancer treatment these days, especially with the use of more advanced treatment methods and early diagnosis. With the new Goh Cheng Liang Proton Therapy Centre in the new National Cancer Centre Singapore building, I hope we can provide more treatment modalities and shorter waiting time to begin treatment so as to bring about even better results for our patients.”

- Mr Ng Kim Bock, Consultant Physicist, Division of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore

“I qualified as a neurosurgeon in 1977, when the specialty was still in its infancy in Singapore. The workload then was higher as there were only three other neurosurgeons and limited surgical equipment. What kept us going was the love for the surgery and dedication to the department.

My greatest joy is seeing patients recover and going back to their daily lives. I recently started using Facebook and some of my past patients have gotten in touch with me there. One lady, whose husband I treated about 20 years ago, said that he is now well and is a doctor! As we get older, we realise that material things are not that important after all. We prefer to be remembered in a nice way.”

- Dr Ong Peck Leong, Emeritus Consultant, Department of Neurosurgery, National Neuroscience Institute

“I joined Toa Payoh Hospital 39 years ago, after graduating from university. When we moved to Changi General Hospital, I was involved in setting up the new Radiography department, from planning the workflow to the layout of the rooms. Over the years, I have seen many improvements with the advancement of technology.

Back in the day, radiography was manually done and we had to carry the large, wet film for processing in dark rooms. In urgent cases, the film could not dry in time and had to be delivered wet to the doctors with the stamp “Wet Film”. Today, the images are transmitted digitally and we no longer have to worry about delivering wet film.

Even though the way we do radiography has changed significantly from when I first started, my passion to serve patients remains the same. I believe that technology and machinery can never replace the human touch in our care to patients.”

- Ms Lee Bee Im Jennifer, Senior Principal Radiographer, Changi General Hospital

"My healthcare journey began 52 years ago as a clerk at one of Singapore's first polyclinics in Queenstown. In 1978, I moved to the Still Road Outpatient Clinic, and subsequently the newly-built Tampines Polyclinic. In those days, we had smaller clinics with just an outpatient dispensary and a maternal and child health clinic. It only cost $2.50 for an adult and 50 cents for a child to see the doctor. Patient registration was done manually on paper, their treatment cards and case notes had to be traced and filed in large steel cabinets. We've come a long way since then."

- Mdm Saidah Binte Shariff, Senior Patient Service Associate Executive, SingHealth Polyclinics – Tampines

“In parallel to my clinical practice, I have had the privilege of participating in several healthcare IT projects with very passionate colleagues from the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), SingHealth and IHiS.

Some of the key systems that I had the privilege of leading include Cardiology Image and Information System (CIIMS), SingHealth Cluster ECG Management System, CVIS (Cardiovascular Information System) and the Cardiovascular CPOE Project. These systems enable the close-loop workflow for cardiovascular investigations as well as the digital distribution, and sharing of test images and reports. The recently completed SingHealth Cluster ECG Project, in particular, addresses an important gap in our quest for paper-lite EMR ecosystems.

Together with other enhancements in Sunrise Clinical Manager, these cardiovascular-related systems greatly improve patient care by making relevant information easily accessible. Much of this work were ‘backend’ labour with little glamour yet has tremendous impact on how we deliver improved care to our patients.”

- Assoc Prof Lim Soo Teik, Deputy Medical Director and Senior Consultant, Department of Cardiology, NHCS, is an interventional cardiologist. He is one of the lead drivers of healthcare IT improvements at NHCS and a key member of the NHCS/SGH Pulmonary Hypertension service. Assoc Prof Lim is a recipient of the MOH Distinguished Senior Clinician Award 2019.

"When I was born, Prof Phua Kong Boo treated me for biliary atresia. 21 years later I'm happy to be colleagues with him at the same institution."

- Ms Teo Mi Shel, Senior Staff Nurse, KK Women's and Children's Hospital

Photo was taken before the COVID-19 period.
 
 
 
 
 

"Forensic radiography is rather rare nowadays, but in the early 1990s, we provided radiographic support for coroner’s cases where death occurred under suspicious circumstances.

As final-year students in radiography in the early 1990s, two classmates and I had our clinical attachment at Singapore General Hospital (SGH). One day we followed a radiographer to the mortuary to perform an x-ray on a drowned victim.

The late Professor Chao Tzee Cheng, who was a renowned forensic pathologist, had ordered a skull x-ray as he suspected foul play and wanted to rule out any unnatural causes of death. I wouldn’t exactly say that the experience was frightening but rather, the atmosphere was quite solemn and there was this sense of feeling very sorry for the victim, who was a young lady. I remember vividly that we helped to carry her body onto the table couch and even tried to wash away the sand from her hair as these would cast artefacts on the x-ray images.

As students, we tried our best and made ourselves useful in the situation and wished that our radiographic service would help to shed some light on the cause of the victim’s death."

- Mr Arthur Cheng, Senior Principal Radiographer, Department of Radiology, Sengkang General Hospital did a two-year attachment as a student at SGH before joining them fulltime in 1992. After 23 years of service, he joined Sengkang General Hospital and oversees the service operations of the Radiology department.

"When I tell others I am a perfusionist, many have to Google what the profession is!

As a Perfusionist, my role is to operate the heart-lung machine which takes over the function of the heart and lungs, and deliver oxygenated blood throughout the patient's body during open-heart surgeries. Simply put, we halt the patient's heart and then keep the patient alive while the surgeon isolates and operates on the deliberately stopped heart.

In the years to come, I hope more people will know what a perfusionist is, and the integral role we play during open-heart surgeries."

- Tanee Chan, Manager, Perfusion, National Heart Centre Singapore has been a perfusionist with NHCS for more than 20 years and has helped to train and groom many within the profession.

This photo was taken before the COVID19 pandemic

"I started work in June 1965, exactly two months before Singapore separated from Malaysia.

I started working as a clerk at the Still Road Outpatient Clinic, which was relatively small with only 2 clerical staff and 4 nurses. I still recalled that the nurses would buy fresh vegetables on their way to work in the morning, so that they can cook lunch at the clinic. We would all pitch in and have family-style lunches together.

Patients visiting the clinic came from all walks of life. There were times when I registered patients and some of them would ask me for a 'good doctor', which I understood to be a hint that they just wanted an MC for the day. Through my interactions with patients, I learnt to be empathetic and not judge them based on what meets the eye. Even though I'm no longer in a frontline role meeting patients, those experiences still guide me in my daily work."

- Moyses Tan, Associate Executive, Operations, SingHealth Polyclinics

“In my one-on-one counselling sessions with patients, some would confide in me their personal worries, such as the financial burden of their hospital bills. Not all of them qualify for the typical social assistance schemes so having to choose between their personal health and burdening their families financially is an unwilling choice they have to make.

I personally believe that no one should be denied access to treatment simply because they cannot afford it. Being a staff donor to the SCH Health Fund allows me to do an extra bit to help needy patients who fall through the cracks. It is a blessing and my privilege to be able to give, and I hope I can encourage others around me to do the same.”

- Jodie Yeo Shi Hui, Dietitian, SingHealth Community Hospitals

“Heart valve surgery piqued my interest when I was training as a general surgeon at SGH in the 80s, right after medical school.

In the 70s and 80s, heart surgery in Singapore was still developing, and I had the opportunity to work with many seniors and mentors to improve techniques to ensure surgeries went smoothly. Our hard work finally paid off when the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) opened in 1994. My employee number was ‘02’ - meaning I was NHCS’ 2nd staff.

I’ve had many ‘teachers’ in my life. A few special mentors whom had a huge impact on my educational and training journey were Prof Abu Rauff, Dr Saw Huat Seong and then-Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dr Ong Kim Kiat.

One of the most memorable training programmes that I have had, was with Dr Ong in Beijing, China in 1993. Together with then-Medical Director, Assoc Prof Arthur Tan and a multi-disciplinary team, we embarked on a funded programme to conduct heart surgery training at Beijing Hospital.

It was an eye-opening experience and we invited a few aspiring young surgeons from Beijing Hospital for further training at NHCS. I am heartened and humbled that we have in many ways, through these trained fellows, helped care for heart patients in various parts of the world.”

- Assoc Prof Chua Yeow Leng, Senior Consultant, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, NHCS, is a recognised leader and expert in heart valve repair surgery in Singapore and the region. He is also a part-time academic staff at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Polytechnic Singapore. He was a recipient of the National Outstanding Clinician Award 2019.

“I joined the old KK Hospital as an Ah Mah in 1969. There were only five of us per shift but we did everything: changing bedsheets, cleaning bedpans, delivering meals and transporting patients. As the hospital grew and moved to its current building, our jobs became more specialised – designated roles of housekeepers, cleaners and catering staff were started. I became a Patient Transport Assistant, being responsible for transporting patients on wheelchairs and trolley beds. KKH is now much larger and busier. But my colleagues, the patients and caregivers are still just as warm. I hope this never changes.”

- Madam Seah Kim Lan has devoted more than 52 years of service to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH). With a ready smile, Auntie Kim Lam – as she is affectionately known – leaves an indelible impression on everyone she meets!