Passionate, witty and humorous as ever, the founder of SGH’s Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department, Professor Charles Ng, shares on his 50-year journey in public service and healthcare.
Passionate, witty and humorous as ever, the founder of SGH’s Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Department, Professor Charles Ng, shares on his 50-year journey in public service and healthcare.
by Prof Charles Ng
Emeritus Consultant, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
Singapore General Hospital
Medicine should not be a business. It’s a calling.
Some will ask why I chose O&G as my specialty – I’ll say it chose me. I was the relaxed student in Cambridge, hanging out with friends and driving around having fun, until the subject stumped me, twice!
The professor and tutor who guided me after my second failure said that I was too clever for my own good – that I saw the trees but not the woods. He reminded me that “I knew too much”, but the crux is in knowing how to answer the examination questions effectively.
This tip stayed with me and after taking the examination the third time, I passed! It was an honour for me to excel as a Gold Medallist in the MRCOG (Member, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) examination in 1970 – as the first Singaporean to receive this distinction.
Receiving the Gold Medal in the MRCOG exam
After qualifying from Cambridge University and St Thomas’ Hospital, I came home to Singapore to join and train in the University Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology in the then Kandang Kerbau Hospital (now known as KK Women's and Children's Hospital) under Prof Tow Siang Hwa, followed by the late Prof S.S. Ratnam.
Those were the times when we really learned to gain experience due to the large volume of work. I then applied to be in general surgery in SGH knowing I would get lots of hands-on training. Being in Surgery B (unit), I worked under the ‘legendary’ Dr (Yahya) Cohen who taught me good surgical skills and management.
I was invited to start the O&G department in SGH in 1985 by healthcare pioneer Dr Kwa Soon Bee, the MOH Permanent Secretary and Director of Medical Services. As Head of Department (HOD), I strived to lead by example. Despite the many challenges faced by the department during the early days, we persevered to introduce various new advances like keyhole surgery, which I had picked up from Professor Peter Huntingford of St. Mary’s Hospital in London - the very mentor who helped me pass my exam in medical school.
When you’re on your way up, you should always look out for your juniors, and the department should be better when you leave it than when you first entered.
When we wanted to bring in-vitro fertilisation into Singapore, we invited specialists from King’s College Hospital in London to train our doctors and nurses. This led to the founding of SGH’s Centre for Assisted Reproduction (CARE) by Dr Maurine Tsakok.
I believe an HOD should be a leader with ideas and vision, and to build the department with highly motivated staff. You also have to pick successors and groom them from Day One. When you’re on your way up, you should always look out for your juniors, and the department should be better when you leave it than when you first entered.
Through my observation during my work as SGH Chairman of Medical Board from 1992 to 1998, I could see that the hospital is different from other healthcare institutions. We have history and heritage, and we have the biggest number of undergraduate and post-graduate trainees. But most importantly, we have dedicated and brilliant medical and allied health staff who wanted to excel in their respective fields in clinical care, teaching and research.
We were also the main tertiary centre for medical care for the public. Therefore, we had to be nimble and willing to embrace new technologies and services to best serve the interest of our patients.
I hope that what my colleagues and I started in our generation will be improved upon by the people whom we have trained. And I hope that they will be braver than I am...
I’ve been able to stay in public healthcare for 50 years because of the challenging work and opportunities it offered me to progress in my specialty. I have travelled around the world meeting and networking with pioneers in O&G and leaders of great medical institutions, which in turn helped me greatly as HOD and as Chairman of Medical Board as I was able to send our doctors and allied health staff to the best medical centres for training.
I hope that what my colleagues and I started in our generation will be improved upon by the people whom we have trained. And I hope that they will be braver than I am and do more things, making sure that we continue to be the best post-graduate teaching centre for successive generations of doctors to come. I feel blessed and happy that my fellow pioneers and I kick-started the rebuilding of SGH from a restructured hospital to the great medical hospital it has become today.
My vision for SGH campus is for it to be the Mayo Clinic of the region – reknowned for its excellence in delivery of medical care in all specialties, a leader in research and an outstanding post-graduate medical centre.
Prof Charles Ng won the “Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award” at SingHealth Excellence Awards 2017.
