TR EMERITUS

From Wayang Party: According to the Peterson Institute of International Economics, both Temasek and GIC are ranked lower than Timor Leste's Petroleum Fund on the scoreboard for SWFs. Timor Leste scored 21.75 points in the 2007 ranking while Temasek and GIC scored 13.50 and 2.25 respectively. The scores are computed based on four categories: structure, governance, accountability and transparency and lastly, behavior. Temasek and GIC performed especially badly under the "structure" category. GIC does not state the source of its funds which is not kept separate from Singapore's international reserves. Though Temasek has been publishing an annual report since 2005, there is little information about its activities. While Temasek subjects itself to an internal audit, the results are not released to the public. As for GIC, nobody knows if it does conduct any internal audit at all. It is time that both SWFs subject themselves to a rigorous and thorough audit by an independent auditor given their dismal performance last year. Instead of recruiting more caucasians to sit on its board of directors, they may consider a cheaper alternative: Timor Leste. Since the Singapore government has always been obsessed with international rankings, it is surprising they appeared to be nonchalant about the miserable rankings of Temasek and GIC near the bottom of the list. As the recent Ren Ci trial has shown, any organization, be it a company, a charity or SWF which lacks a system of checks and balance will expose itself to possible abuses by a rogue CEO. Ren Ci's ex CEO Ming Yi was allowed to assume both positions of CEO and Chairman at the same time. Ren Ci's accounts were not audited by an external auditor and neither does its CEO need to answer to anybody other than himself. Without the NKF saga which forced the Ministry of Health to conduct stringent checks on charities, the scandal in Ren Ci will never be uncovered. There is no reason why Temasek and GIC cannot open their account books and allow themselves to be audited if they are indeed managed accordingly to accepted international standards. You can read the entire report here: http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/truman1007swf.pdf  Read More →

EDITORS' NOTE: It appears that the mainstream media is back on a publicity campaign to salvage the battered image of NTU. While previously it has used "allegedly" to describe the incident, it has now conveniently omitted it altogether and reach a verdict on its own without revealing the autopsy report and the police's investigations. After a few more rounds of spins and propaganda, the version of "truth" which will remain imprinted in the minds of the public is: Widjaja knifed Prof Chan in his back and later fell to his death while it should be written like this: "Widjaja allegedly knifed Prof Chan in his back and later fell to his death. However, no witnesses were present and Prof Chan's claims cannot be independently verified as for now till the police complete their investigations. It's a shame that our most unprofessional journalists do not have the basic sense of human decency to show some respect for the deceased. In its desperate attempts to protect the establishment, they will go to any lengths to smear the names of the innocent, including the dead who cannot speak up in defence for themselves.   Article: THE Nanyang Technological University professor who was stabbed by his final-year project student last month, is still on medical leave but is in contact with his students. Professor Chan Kap Luk, 45, from the NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), is still recovering and has yet to resume full teaching responsibilities, said NTU on Monday in response to queries from straitstimes.com. Prof Chan continues 'to maintain contact with some of his students via email and phone calls,' NTU said. The professor was knifed in the back during a final-year project discussion with Indonesian student David Hartanto Widjaja on the morning of March 2. Widjaja, 21, a fourth-year engineering student at NTU, later fell to his death after the attack. Prof Chan, who suffered injuries to his back and right hand, was discharged from National University Hospital three days after the attack. He had earlier said he would be taking a break before returning to work. Prof Chan's workload has since been delegated to other faculty members. 'Since the incident, a co-supervised final year project (FYP) has been taken over by the co-supervisor, while the remaining projects have been re-allocated to other faculty members within the same division', NTU said. Asked if NTU was reviewing its policies on FYP meetings between students and professors, an NTU spokesman said the School of EEE is looking into whether more effective means can be developed to support its students and staff. NTU also said it continues to provide support for foreign students ease into a new environment through its International Students Centre and the Student Affairs Office. Source: Straits Times  Read More →

The writer just completed his bond with MOH and is celebrating his new found "freedom". He wishes to remain anonymous. I thanked Ms Yvonne Chew for her letter on the plight of junior doctors. (read letter here) As a house officer, I had the "honor" of serving in the respiratory unit of one of the biggest public hospitals in Singapore. Local medical graduates will know which hospital I am referring to. It was an experience I will never forget. A typical day begins with daily ward rounds at 8am. The house officers usually arrive half a hour earlier to prepare the case notes, familiarize themselves with the new cases and to trace results from the previous night. I am not sure about the workload now, but during my time, the average number of patients under the care of one house officer ranged from twenty to forty. The ward round which is often intimidating, seldom ends before 11am and sometimes stretches pass 12 noon if the cases are complicated. Then begins a day's mundane work of drawing blood, doing ECGs (there were no phlebotomists or ECG technicans in those days), typing discharge summaries, arranging for urgent CT scans, talking to patient's family etc. If one is lucky to have lunch, it usually means a quick bite at the caferia provided the nurses are kind enough not to interrupt you during the precious few minutes when the new admissions will start to come in at the same time. The house officers are responsible for clerking, examining the admitted patients, ordering and taking the relevant tests and to present the cases to their MOs or Registrars during the evening round which can sometimes last till 7pm or later. We had six to eight night calls a month which start at around 6pm and end at 8am the next day after which you are still expected to work till 1pm before you can knock off if there is enough manpower. I still remembered the Head of Department telling us during the orientation that "post-call" is privilege, not a right. Very often we don't get to leave early after a hectic night deprived of sleep or if we do, in the late afternoons around 3 to 4pm. You have to experience it for yourself to know how it feels like to be without sleep for 36 to 48 hours. Your mind gets switched off, your eyelids go drooping all the time and you get irritated very easily. The body craves for sleep and yet you have to force it to be up and running. There was once I dozed off at the bedside of a patient while talking to him! The long working hours, mental fatigue and emotional distress are not helped by superiors who are not quite empathetic to the problems encountered by doctors fresh out of medical school. A fellow house officer who broke down crying after being scolded right in front of a patient's family by a consultant was told straight in her face to "cut the pretence" and stop being a "crybaby"! (I was just besides her) She took two weeks of "emergency leave" a week later and was transferred to another department upon her return. A Singaporean medical graduate from Australia quitted only after one week in the ward. On her first night call, she was so overwhelmed that she locked herself in the call room and switched off her hospital handphone. She was expectedly haul up the very next day to face the music dished out by the Head of Department who obviously didn't take kindly to her "AWOL" . The last I heard of her is that she is now working in a hospital in Melbourne and has settled down there. The above examples are real life stories and not an exaggeration of some of the challenges or "tortures" encountered by junior doctors in Singapore's public hospitals. Why didn't we bring up our grievances to the attention of the senior doctors then? There is a "macho" culture pervading the local medical fraternity that because medicine is a noble profession, all doctors are expected to put up with sacrifices and hardships which the job entails even at the expense of their own personal well-being. More than often, the consultants will brush aside the complaints of the juniors with a dose of their own anecdotes: "In those days when I was a houseman, I worked longer hours than you with half your pay and I have never complained even once!" "You should be thankful to be serving your housemanship in Singapore instead of Kuala Lumpur or Kuching!" "Nowadays the load is so light compared to the past and you guys (and girls) still whine so much!" That's why consultants working in public hospitals are the creme la crop as they have demonstrated their mettle in surviving and emerging from the system unscathed. Please do not get me wrong. I am not writing to lash out at anybody. I still have utmost respect and admiration for the consultants whom I have worked with. They are the most dedicated, hardworking and knowledgable clinicians I have encountered and I am indeed honored to be given the opportunity to learn from them. The long hours and poor working conditions faced by junior doctors are perpetual problems in public hospitals. As long there is a ready supply of "cheap labor" to keep the system running, there is little incentive to improve the welfare of the junior staff as it will lead invariably to higher operating costs. Under free market conditions, very few local doctors will want to work in public hospitals unless they are training to be specialists which explains why almost all will leave for the public sector upon completion of their bonds. At least 10 of my classmates have broken their bonds during their final years of service. Recruiting foreign doctors and increasing the number of medical students are only temporalizing measures which will create a bigger problem in the future if the crux of the issue remains inadequately addressed. While the public sector remains chronically short of doctors, the private sector will be flooded with general practitioners and specialists which will depress the overall wages of doctors. MOH should do more to keep doctors within the public healthcare system by offering them better working conditions and renumerations which are comparable to that in the private sector. Keeping more local doctors in the hospitals and polyclinics will obviate the need to recruit more foreign doctors who will have difficulties communicating with elderly patients and understanding our unique Singapore culture.  Read More →