September 2005 – Dr Jeffrey Low

It has been 6 months since the completion of our Society’s 10th Annual Colposcopy Course from 5 to 6 March 2005 at National Cancer Centre. Our Guest Speaker was Professor Ronald W. Jones from Auckland, New Zealand, Clinical Professor and Director, Department of Lower Genital Tract Diseases, National Women’s Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand and also President of the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease (ISSVD). Prof Jones delivered the 11th Annual Oration “An Unfortunate Experiment” on Sunday 6 March 2005 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel. It was a truly unique experience listening to a first-hand account of this amazing true story. This year’s course and oration was also special in that besides Prof Ron Jones, we also had world-renown gynaecologic oncologist from Sydney Australia Prof Neville Hacker in our midst. Neville, who is no stranger to us, delivered an excellent discourse on liquid-based cytology on the first day of the course. The society thanks Dr Fong Kah Leng and her organizing committee for the very successful Annual Course and Oration.

The society conducted its 12th AGM on the 5 March 2005 at NCC. A special thanks goes to our immediate past President Dr Quek Swee Chong for his steadfast service to the Society as he steered her through a difficult period over 2 terms 2003/2004 and 2004/2005. A new council for 2005/2006 was voted in at the AGM and they are:

There is good synergy amongst the council members and all are committed to serving the members of the society and upholding the standards of colposcopic practice among our fraternity. I urge you to give your fullest support to your Council members.

With effect from August 2005, our Vice-President Dr Lisa Wong left on no-pay leave to Marsden UK to pursue her Fellowship training in Gynaecologic Oncology. She will return after 18 months. We wish her every success in her training.

SCCPS Secretariat

Secretariat support for the SCCPS for many years had been faithfully provided by Ms Salbia Ibrahim, with the good graces of our sister Society, the OGSS. Due to work commitments however, Salbia is no longer able to provide secretariat support. We thank Salbia for her contributions to SCCPS and would like to express our appreciation to the President and Council of OGSS for facilitating the secretarial support to SCCPS all these years. From May – July 2005, our secretariat support was provided by Ms Annie Choo, KKH. With effect from 1 September 2005, our new secretariat is Ms Connie Cheng who has signed on for 2 years on a renewable basis. Connie has worked as temp secretarial staff and is known to many of us for her very high level of efficiency and competency, and the society is most pleased to welcome her on board. Connie will also provide secretariat support for the Colposcopy Registration Committee (CRC). As such please note the new mailing address, phone and fax numbers for the SCCPS.

Website

A website is easy to set up but always difficult to maintain. Our newest council member and very promising young colposcopist Dr Yeap Min Li has been tasked to look after the maintenance of the SCCPS website. Min Li has done an excellent job in uploading some photos from this year’s course. The Register of Colposcopists has also been updated. Please check if your particulars and contact details need to be updated and let Min Li know. We will be most happy to work with any members who can contribute ideas on further improving the website. We would also like to inform all members that our new email address is now [email protected]. This will be the best way to contact Connie for any society or CRC related matters. The email addresses [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] will cease to be in use with immediate effect.

Membership

Our Society’s membership now stands at 111 members. We are delighted to welcome 11 new members this year. They are:

• Dr Chistopher Chong
• Dr Ho Hon Kwok
• Dr Jen Shek Wei
• Dr Michelle Lee
• Dr Kenneth Edward Lee
• Dr Lee Wei Hong
• Dr Thomas Lim
• Dr Maurine Tsakok
• Dr Tan Yin Yin
• Dr Umesh Doshi
• Dr Joesph Ng

Membership to the SCCPS is of course not limited to gynaecologists alone but extends to any medical practitioner who is interested in colposcopy and cervical pathology such as pathologists, oncologists and dermatologists as well. Non-medical practitioners with similar interest such as cyto-technologists who are involved in reading Pap smears and nurses can also sign up as Associate Members. Do encourage your like-minded colleagues to sign up as well. We would on this note, like to remind all members who are in arrears of their subscriptions to assist in keeping their subscriptions up to date. Our treasurer Benjamin Tham will be writing to these members soon to remind them. If your particulars such as practice address etc have changed, please also inform Connie straight away.

The Colposcopy Registration Committee (CRC)

At the last AGM Dr Adelina Wong, Chair of the CRC was re-appointed to the position for another 2 years. We would like to thank Addy for her able chairmanship of the CRC matters since its inception. There are at present a total of 179 registered colposcopists in Singapore.

The register of names can be found on the society’s website at https://www.sccps.org/register.htm. Please check through your contact details on the website to ensure that it is up to date. Members are reminded that for retention on the Register of Colposcopists, a minimum attendance at a colposcopy course every 2 years is required. You are also expected to keep a record of your own practice and submit a declaration form attesting to performing at least 30 colposcopies over a 2-year period.

The form is downloadable from https://www.sccps.org/training.htm. For members who may not be able to achieve the 30 cases and are interested in obtaining practical hands-on training, the Society will be writing to institutional heads to assist our private practice colleagues in providing the requisite training.

The CRC is also pleased to announce that all registered colposcopists under the Grandfather clause will be aligned to renew their registrations by 30 November 2006. Thereafter, November will the renewal month for each colposcopist’s 2 yearly renewal cycle. The CRC will be sending out a reminder letter in August 2006 to all who are due for renewal.

CPD Event

The Society is pleased to inform all members regarding a most enticing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) event coming up on the evening of Saturday 24 September 2005. We all know that wine eventually turns into vinegar or acetic acid once oxidized. As such there is no more fitting way of celebrating the appreciation of the use of acetic acid in colposcopy and the appreciation of its salubrious precursor. Thanks to the organizational efforts of Dr Chua Yang and Dr Quek Swee Chong, the SCCPS presents “Through the Looking Glass” on Saturday evening 24 September 2005 at the newly opened Gourmet Cellar @ River Valley. Swee Chong who is well-known for his lecturing flair will be speaking on “The cervix through the looking glass”. This will be followed by an elegant 5-course dinner paired with matching wines. The learning continues as Chua Yang and her team discusses the tasting notes of each wine. This will be interactive learning at its best! The society will not be responsible if you see persistent images of corkscrew vessels after the dinner.

Registration is absolutely free for members who are fully paid up and $50 for everybody else. Places for this event are limited to 50 pax so please sign up ASAP. Registration forms are enclosed.

11th Annual Colposcopy Course and 12th Annual Oration of the SCCPS 2006

Next year’s Course and Annual Oration will be hosted by the Dept of O&G, NUH and the organizing committee is chaired by A/Prof A Ilancheran. The event will be held onSaturday 25th to Sunday 26th March 2006 at NUH. Our guest lecturer and Annual Orator will be Prof Ralph Richart, who is presently Professor and Vice Chairman for Anatomic Pathology at Columbia University Medical Center. He is world-renown in cytology, gynaecological pathology, colposcopy and preinvasive disease, and was the man who introduced the LEEP technique in the United States. Please be sure to mark the dates in your diaries. More details will follow in due course.