Republic of Singapore Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong officiated at the opening of the 41^st Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine, held at the Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore. At the opening ceremony, PM Lee was conferred an Honorary Fellowship. The Singapore Academy of Medicine also conferred honorary fellowships to 20 Presidents of fraternal Overseas Colleges/Academies and admitted new fellows to the Academy.

The 18^th Gordon Arthur Ransome Oration was delivered by Dr Chew Chin Hin, who had contributed significantly to the development of Medicine, Research and Medical Education in Singapore and a recipient of Lifetime Achievement awards. Dr Chew spoke on “Some Milestones: Specialist Education, Training and Assessment in Singapore”.

The Congress of Medicine had as its theme, “Redefining Gold Standards in Medicine: The Next Chapter”. The scientific programme thus reflected this theme and sessions on continuous professional development was also held. The Congress provided a platform that enabled an exchange of ideas, expertise between fraternal colleges/academies. Forging of new ties were made to combine efforts in maintaining, improving the level of competency and updating of knowledge in the rapidly expanding field of medicine.

This year’s congress was special in that it was the Singapore Academy of Medicine’s Golden Jubilee and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine was participating on an official basis as well. This tripartite arrangement between Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong would take place every 3 to 5 years in the future.

The Radiological Colleges Tripartite Arrangement
The colleges of radiology/radiologists from Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia have agreed to collaborate on issues relevant to all the respective bodies. Drs Vijay Sethi, Lilian Leung and Evelyn Ho, respective Presidents of their country’s radiological professional bodies that encompass radiology, oncology and nuclear medicine met informally to discuss several issues. Areas of collaboration would include scientific meetings and examinations (where relevant for the professional body).

In this year’s congress, speakers from the respective radiology/radiologist colleges participated. Dr Zaleha Abdul Manaf from Malaysia spoke on Paediatric Diagnostic Imaging: What’s Best? Hong Kong speakers were Dr Gregory Antonio, Dr Khong Pek Lan, Dr Stephen Cheung and Dr Samuel Lau.