Dear SMSV Members,

SMSV is conducting a Personal Particulars Update to ensure that you are receiving announcements from us. On top of that, by updating your details, SMSV will be able to share the Education and Resources Folder (which contains useful study aids) with your University email.

Best Regards,
SMSV.

Most of us would have heard of the pre-employment grant offered by the Singapore Health Clusters to attract foreign graduated Singaporean doctors back to Singapore to work. Here’s a summary of the latest updates:

• Offered to Singaporeans with good grades (ie there will be a selection and interview process)
• Capped at 40,000 per year (max of 80,000 in 2 years), or 60% of remaining tuition fees
• Three year bond for those taking one year grant
• Four year bond for those taking two year grant
• Applications for UK students open 16th August
• Applications for Aussie students likely to be end January

For more information go to the MOHH website, or the Straits Times Article

SMSV is looking for enthusiastic meddies to join our committee!

You will be helping out your fellow students by being involved in organizing a range of social, academic and employment related activities throughout the year.

As part of the committee, you will be representing the interests of your fellow Singaporean meddies (as well as any other students interested in the Singapore healthcare sector). If you have any new ideas for enriching activities, or have opinions on changes you would like to see, this is your opportunity to put them in place.

We welcome any interested medical or allied health student to be part of our committee, regardless of nationality.

New committee members would be part of a ‘general committee’, which would give you the chance to take on different job scopes under the guidance of current committee members. This would give you time to become familiar with what we do, and later you would be able to decide on which portfolio you would be most keen on taking up.

Please fill in the following form (preferably before 15th June 2010) and we’ll be in touch very soon.

(a) MOH Holdings will be in Melbourne and Sydney from 31 May to 7 Jun 2010 for the recruitment of Pharmacists. They are looking at both Registered Pharmacists as well as Graduating Pharmacy Students. Please visit  www.ahp.mohh.com.sg/Auspharm2010.   They will also be posting the details on their Facebook page – Healthcare jobs in Singapore.

(b) MOHH Mid Term Scholarship for allied healthcare students is open for application.  Please see the following document: http://www.smsv.sg/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/MOHH-MTS-2010.pdf

RESTRUCTURED hospitals are looking into giving pre-employment grants to Singaporeans studying medicine overseas, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced yesterday.

The grant will cover part of the students’ university fees. Recipients have to serve a bond in Singapore after they graduate.

An encounter with a young party activist in his Sembawang branch made him realise the usefulness of the idea, which had first been thrown up by Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar GRC), said Mr Khaw.

The activist was leaving to study medicine in New South Wales, Australia. ‘Among the 60 international students in her batch, she noted that 40 were Singaporeans!’ the minister exclaimed.

Mr Khaw blogged about this on Facebook. In his post, he said that the ministry’s aggressive recruitment of foreign medical graduates had worked, but Singapore students should not be neglected.

‘I will figure out a way to help them in a meaningful manner and secure their return to Singapore,’ he wrote. ‘I am sure it can be done, to get our kids back!’

Read the full story in Wednesday’s edition of The Straits Times.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_500241.html

Dear members, please take note of the following if intending to travel back to Singapore this holidays.

MOH’s Travel Advisory

In a pandemic outbreak, when the H1N1 virus is all over the world, and may last for a long time, specific travel advisory may become increasingly impractical. We encourage Singaporeans to keep themselves abreast of developments of the country they are planning to visit, and take note of the total number of cases reported, number of deaths and export cases from these countries.

Travellers who have been to countries that have been considered by WHO to have sustained community transmission or to be in transition towards community transmission, as well as countries that have been reported to have exported cases (ie. Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America) should immediately call 993 for medical assistance if they feel unwell within seven days of arrival. If you are feeling unwell, they should avoid travelling and should not engage in extensive community activities such as working, shopping and participating in mass activities.

If travel to these areas is unavoidable, we encourage travellers to take the following precautionary measures:

• Pay attention to announcements from the local government.
• Follow local public health guidelines, including any movement restrictions and prevention recommendations.
• Avoid crowded areas and contact with anyone who appears unwell.
• Maintain high standards of personal hygiene at all times.
- Wash hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water, especially before touching the eyes, nose or mouth.
- Turn quickly away from anyone near if they are about to cough or sneeze.
- Cover the nose and mouth with a piece of tissue when coughing or sneezing. Dispose of the tissue paper properly in the dust bin after use.

After your return to Singapore from countries with sustained community transmission

Pay close attention to your health for 7 days, watching out for symptoms
such as :

• High fever (> 38 deg C)
• Sore throat
• Cough
• Body aches
• Runny nose
• Headaches
• Tiredness

If you have any such symptoms, you should call 993 promptly for an ambulance. You should avoid taking public transport or taxi to minimise exposure. To help in contact tracing, the public may find it helpful to keep records of their movements for 7 days (for example by keeping taxi receipts) after their return.

Source: Ministry of Health, www.moh.gov.sg

This is the time of the year when applicants for medicine in Australian universities are anxiously awaiting their letter of acceptance. To facilitate new Singaporean students starting medicine at Monash in 2010, we have created a facebook group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=82407896383

New juniors, hopefully you’ll find the group useful to organize outings and get to know your classmates and collegues for the next 5 years!

The Singapore Medical Society of Victoria is holding its annual membership recruitment drive from 2nd March 2009 till the 20th March 2009!

As members of SMSV, you will stand to gain alot from participating in the activities SMSV has lined up for you:

• Medical mission trips – we had one last year but this year we’re looking to organise many more so as to accommodate our ever-enthusiastic members!
• Hospital/ clinical/ research attachments – Last year we had clinical attachments at TTSH, NUH and NSC that members found to be extremely useful, so you’ll be seeing these attachments this year again!
• Career talks – SMSV is working with Ministry of Health Holdings this year to bring to our members the annual MOHH career talks. It’ll be happening sometime in July/ August this year so do be on a look out for them!
• Charity events – SMSV believes in sharing and caring, that’s why we make it one of our top priorities to give back to the less fortunate!
• Networking luncheons – we understand that networking is a huge part of any profession, what better opportunity to do so then at one of the networking luncheons we put together for our members?

Besides just organising activities for our members, SMSV has made a commitment to look after the welfares of our members as well:

• Support – SMSV is committed to helping our members so if you’re struggling with medical school, help is always available from our forums or just by emailing one of our friendly committee members!
• Benefits – SMSV is constantly looking out for benefits for our members. Last year we offered our members a 5% discount off all medical purchases at NUS co-op and this year we’ll be looking for similar ventures to offer our members.

So if you are interested in becoming part of the SMSV family, do sign up with us now!

Signing up is easy! Three simple steps:

1. Grab yourself an application form from here.
2. Complete application form and return to info@smsv.sg.
3. Pay membership fee of AUD15.00.

Payment can be made (more details can be found on the application form):

1. In person: please locate our booth at the Fresher’s Gathering event or any other SMSV event specified as a recruitment event.
2. Internet banking: payment should be made payable to: “Singapore Medical Society of Victoria” @ “3238 1044 1410″

If you have any queries with regards to membership application, do feel free to contact Kaihan at kaihan.yao@smsv.sg.

We look forward to welcoming you into SMSV!

With the aim of promoting greater participation in our forums, we’ve come up with a little competition for our members. There’s a AUD$50 CASH PRIZE for the winner!

Step 1: You’ll first need to sign up on our forums as a forum member.
Step 2: Post constructively - don’t be afraid to start new topics if you think there is potential for a good discussion
Step 3: Post frequently - the more post there are, the more vibrant our forums would become!

Judging will be based not only on post count, but also on the quality of your posts. The winner will be determined by the SMSV committee.

Competition ends 1st August, 2009

Remember, the SMSV forum needs your participation to become a useful resource for all our members. So please contribute as much as you can!

As SMSV members, you will be granted a 5% discount off any medical titles when purchasing them at the NUS Co-op. To be eligible for the 5% discount, you would have to produce your SMSV membership card. Please note that terms and conditions apply and that the discount is strictly non-transferable.

SMSV membership cards are currently in production and we will be putting them up for collection shortly.