Welcome to the website of the Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology of Singapore, the SCCPS! The SCCPS is YOUR society and that is what the Council and I strive to do as its executive body, to keep the SCCPS a society of engaged healthcare professionals with an interest in colposcopy and cervical pathology.
Worldwide, colposcopy societies have seen their role evolve over the decades from being largely women’s healthcare societies to organizations that advocate for and promote the work of healthcare professionals across a broad spectrum of medical specialties and care environments. I see this trend manifesting itself in Singapore as well with interest from doctors and allied healthcare professionals who are not involved in women’s health. There has been growing interest in developing anoscopy and vulvoscopy in Singapore and I applaud this interest and will work with the SCCPS to see how we can support the development of these specialty services. If you have a special interest in these areas, I urge you to join the SCCPS family as a member. It is together that we can do better for our patients!
Another area that I am particularly proud of is the outreach that the SCCPS has embarked on to provide care to underserved populations in Singapore! Two populations that do not have access to routine cervical cancer screening are our helpers and women living with HIV.
Our helpers are particularly vulnerable given that the vast majority of them are of an age to benefit most from cervical cancer screening but likely represent the largest group of unscreened women in Singapore today. This is due to stigma and the low perceived importance of cervical cancer screening. A diagnosis of cervical cancer will easily wipe out a lifetime of hard work. The irony is that cervical cancer can be effectively prevented with an easy and inexpensive test. To improve screening rates and increase awareness in this population, the SCCPS is collaborating with industry partners to launch the Helping Our Helpers program which will provide free initial screening to eligible helpers. Stay tuned to this website for further program details!
HIV positive women often have poor access to women’s cancer screening programs and the SCCPS is partnering with industry and infectious disease professionals from all over Singapore to help to increase awareness about cervical cancer screening and prevention in HIV positive women. This outreach program will likely launch in the middle of 2018! I urge all interested healthcare professionals and members of the public to work with us to improve the health of ALL Singaporeans!
Finally, I want to thank you once again for your interest in the SCCPS website. Please browse the content, get to know us better, and get access to useful information such as the Register of Colposcopists which lists all the doctors providing colposcopy services in Singapore. As I mentioned at the start, sign up to join us if you’re a doctor, nurse, lab professional, or interested healthcare professional, because when you sign up, you take the very first step in making the SCCPS YOUR society!
Yours sincerely
Joseph Ng
President
2017 – 2019
