Singapore Medical Council Elections- Do they matter?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Perhaps the nonchalance in the election of the ‘elected’ members may be because the majority of the SMC members are appointed. Under the Act, 12 members are elected by the body of registered medical practitioners and the Minister appoints the other 15 (1 Director Medical Services, 2 representatives from each medical school (Yong Loo Lin, Duke-NUS and Lee Kong Chian), i.e. 6 members, and 8 appointed persons).

Whatever the case, the composition of the SMC should matter even if their workings are behind closed doors and we the voting registered medical practitioners have little insights into how decisions are made, why they are made and the relative roles of appointed versus elected members. Many years ago, I was quite alarmed by a conversation I had with an appointed SMC member in which he said with all sincerity that he was surprised Dr. ABC was making such a big fuss about an issue. “After all”, he said, “He’s just an elected member.” (!!!)

What would I love to see? At a minimum, an election ‘speech’ included with the bio-sketches (which perhaps candidates should be free to organize as they deem most appropriate) so that we can ‘hear’ from the candidates themselves. If memory serves, this used to be done.

For those voters wanting to know more, it would be wonderful to know how we can find out more. Should there be pages on the SMC website where candidates have free reign of content for the 18 days of voting?

Bottom-line, as a voter, assuming our votes matter because elected members can and do shape decisions taken by the SMC, I want to know more about the candidates who will sit on the Council that has a key role in tasks like “determine and regulate the conduct and ethics of registered medical practitioners” and “determine and regulate standards of practice and the competence of registered medical practitioners”.

- http://insightshealthassociates.word...o-they-matter/


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