Address by Guest-of-Honour (Master 1973 - 1975), Academy of Medicine, Singapore at the Induction Comitia 2010.

May I fi rst thank you, Master and Council, for inviting me to this Induction Comitia 2010. I feel truly honored and humbled to be present as the Guest of Honour. However, let me address you as a fellow Academician – albeit one who has occasional lapses of memory especially of recent events and defi cit of hearing et vision. Today is a great day of celebration for our Academy for we meet to witness the formal admission of new fellows. Let me, therefore, proffer our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to our new brother and sister Academicians and also to those who will be awarded the Staff Registrar Diplomas. Today you are celebrating your success and achievements after completing arduous years of specialists' training and we rejoice with you. The standard of medical specialisation and of the profession in our small island country continues to experience a high degree of approval and respect. This acceptance has been secured in good measure through the insistence on stringent standards and competence by the Academy of Medicine for over 50 years and indeed by our Medical School since the foundation in 1905. But this is not unqualifi ed. Expectations continue to rise relentlessly, criticisms come more frequently especially from the better educated and informed through advancing information technology and reading. Expectations will also continue to rise with rapid advances in science and technology resulting in new techniques in diagnosis and treatment breakthroughs. These changes bring about tremendous excitement for development and further research. However, while much of these can be benefi cial to mankind, we will increasingly be faced with a variety of complex and diffi cult problems. In this regard, while advances in Medicine cannot stand still, some aspects of our calling remain fundamental and timeless. Our fi rst responsibility is and must always be to our patients. We share with all our colleagues a commitment to care for the sick. In the 5th College of Physicians Lecture a few years ago, I mentioned that I was guided by some enduring principles. One was our Medical Alumni's motto: " not to be ministered unto but to minister ". The word " minister " is from the Greek root word " daikonia ". This encompasses several actions related to our calling. They include not merely service but rather service with humility, care, compassion and charity, service with a determination to heal, an …