Annual report of the Medical Department / Colony of Singapore.

  • Singapore. Medical Department
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Colony of Singapore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/314 page 9
    Noteworthy has been the development of the lesser specialities and ancillary services. Anaesthetics now ranks as a speciality and the services of the skilled anaesthetist are the sine qua non of much modern surgery and gynaecology. A blood transfusion service is essential in any large hospital undertaking major work and this is now functioning in Singapore. There is increasing importance attached to physiotherapy, occupational therapy and diversional therapy. Today these are all represented in our hospitals. An almoner service has been introduced of recent years and forms the link between the hospitals and the social services. The nursing services too, without which no medical organisation could exist, have seen development and change. Newer methods of training, increased oppor¬ tunity and more modern distribution are all indications of the adaptation of old services to modern needs. One of the most significant post-war developments has been the greater part which the staff of the hospitals is now called upon to play in advising on matters of policy and organisation. It is in no way denigratory to an administration to say that those who are actually undertaking the clinical and hospital work are able to offer advice which may be of very real value. The opportunity afforded to the staff to place before the D.M.S. their views on many matters is greatly appreciated by them and it is hoped may have been of value to the administration. Above all it is the opportunity for the development of a greater team spirit in the hospital service on which the ultimate success of the service depends. The introduction of the Medical Plan in 1947 was the recognition of the material shortages of the hospital services of the Colony. The initial steps of that Plan are only now in a material sense being taken. New departments and hospitals are still to be built, but in assessing the progress of the past five years the delays in material achievement should not blind us to the functional successes. Indeed it would have availed little to have had the buildings if the development of an organisation suited to the new demands of today and tomorrow had not first been secured and tested. These are years of planning and it may well be that the future will demand modification and alteration in the plans which have been made. It has been said that a hospital is outmoded on the day when the foundation stone is laid. The D.M.S. will be leaving Singapore in the near future and much that he would have liked to see will not have been accomplished. But in his reflections on what he has done, and I trust others will reflect likewise, he will be able to claim credit for the re¬ organisation of the internal structure of the hospital work and function in a manner calculated to meet the needs of today and to be the basis of the expansion within the foreseeable future. The Government Medical Services cover the entire hospital organisation of the Colony except the Infectious Diseases Hospital which is under a form of joint City Council and Government administration; all air and sea quaran¬ tine arrangements; the rural health division of some 300,000 persons; and the school medical and dental services. These are controlled by a Director of Medical Services, with a Deputy Director, a Chief Health Officer and a Chief Medical Officer. The Director was an ex-officio President of the Medical Council of the Colony of Singapore and the Federation of Malaya; Registrar of the Medical Practitioners; Chairman and Registrar of the Dental Board, Singapore; Chair¬ man of the Hospitals Board; Chairman of the Pharmacy Board, Singapore; Chairman of the Public Health Conference; Chairman of St. John Ambulance Association and Deputy President of the Singapore Branch of the British Red Cross Society. He was a member of the Legislative Council throughout the year and Chairman of the following special committees which were formed to deal with .special problems: venereal disease, blood transfusion, tuber¬ culosis and U.N.I.C.E.F. He was also a member of the Council of the Univer¬ sity of Malaya. The Colony of Singapore consists of Singapore Island with a number of small adjacent islands, including Christmas Island and the Cocos-Keeling Group in the Indian Ocean. It came into being under the constitutional re¬ forms of 1946.
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