Address delivered by the Chancellor, University of Singapore, Dato Dr. Lee Kong Chian, P.M.N., S.P.M.J., S.J.M.K. Hon. LL.D., J.P.

In every country in Asia today there is an insistent and growing clamour for improved living conditions and freedom from want, disease and epidemics. In the economic sphere, improvement is to a large extent dependent on and governed by many complex, highly variable and unpredictable factors many of which are beyond the control of an individual nation.

In the sphere of public health and the provision of adequate medical facilities for the people, however, the problem is one which is more capable of solution, as it is somewhat less dependent on external and unpredictable factors.

According to a recent publication of the World Health Organization, there are 1½ million doctors serving a world population of three thousand million people.  However, approximately three quarters of all the doctors are found in Europe and North America. Thus Malaysia, in common with other countries in this region, has to solve the problem of providing good and adequate medical facilities to meet the needs of a constantly increasing population.

The ratio of doctors to population is one of the ways of gauging the adequacy of medical services. In Australia, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States the ratio is 1 doctor to 600/1100 people. Besides this dental and other associated services are simultaneously developed. By way of comparison, in Singapore the ratio is about 1 to 2,500 in other parts of Malaysia from approximately 1 to 4,000, to 1 to 15,000. From these statistics, it is clear that Malaysia still has a long way to go before we can say that the people are getting the medical services they need. 

I would like to trace briefly the history of facilities for medical education in this country. In 1904, various community leaders joined together to propose to the Government the need for establishing a medical school in the Colony.

Sir Ong Siang Song gave a very interesting account of this first venture in higher education in his well-known book "100 years of the Chinese in Singapore". He recorded that the Government thereupon challenged the Asian Communities to raise by subscription the sum of $71,000 and promised that as soon as this amount was raised, the Governor would propose to the Legislative Council that the necessary measures be taken for the establishment of such a school. As it turned out, the list of donations closed with a total subscription of $87,000 comprising donations from people in Singapore, Penang and Selangor. In view of this, the Government then introduced in June 1905 a Bill in the Legislative Council and the school was formally opened on the 28^th September 1905 by the Governor.

Thus we can see the Government was originally rather reluctant about implementing such a project, and it was because of public enthusiasm and the practical demonstration of their sincerity in raising more funds than the sum named by the then Government, that the Medical School, the first unit of this University was born. We, the public of Singapore and Malaya must be proud of the grateful for this splendid performance 59 years ago by our predecessors.

Every faculty and department of the University of Singapore is, needless to say, a valuable and indispensable unit of the whole, and each faculty and department has in its own field contributed to the growth and development of the University and the welfare of the community, and it would be most difficult, if not impossible, to try to say which particular faculty is the most important. In fact, plans are being made to expand and improve all faculties as far as our resources will permit.

The Medical School, being the longest established faculty, will attain its 60^th Anniversary next year, during the course of its history the school has grown from Strength to Strength and achieved a reputation of which we may justly be proud.  A 60^th Anniversary may according to certain traditions be termed a "Diamond Jubilee". The present situation on the medical front in Malaysia is that there is a grave shortage of doctors in the medical services. Government plans to provide more hospital beds and to build more regional hospitals. This means that many more new doctors have to be produced in the near future to staff these hospitals. 

In view of these circumstances, it would be appropriate for us to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the doyen faculty of the University of Singapore by substantially expanding its facilities for both teaching and research and stepping up the production of well-trained medical men to fill the existing gaps in Malaysia’s medical services. So many advances in medical science have been made and are continuing to be made that, unless we plan for the future and bring our techniques and equipment up to date, we are in danger of being left behind in the search for medical knowledge. Again, as the public is aware, each year many eager young men and women are turned away by the medical school due to the lack of space and teaching facilities, and they either have to go abroad or else give up their ambitions. There is in addition a most urgent need for the training of specialists whose numbers in Malaysia can only be described as seriously inadequate.

In recent years, attempts to recruit specialists of certain categories from Britain and our neighbouring countries have not been successful. The only long-term solution is the establishment, no matter on how modest a scale, of a properly staffed and equipped centre for post-graduate medical studies in Singapore.

It is earnestly hoped that medical graduates in this country will rally on this historical occasion to co-ordinate their efforts so as to commemorate its 60^th Anniversary by tangible results which will serve as a great stride forward and a source of satisfaction to all of us.

Our public has always been generous and sympathetic to worthwhile endeavours of true value and we have every confidence that this appeal will have their support.

We look forward to suggestions from our friends, well-wishers, and public organizations for the commemoration of this Diamond Jubilee of the oldest-established faculty of the University of Singapore, and for ways and means of ensuring that this happy occasion will be celebrated in a way that will result in the greatest benefit for the peoples of Malaysia.

I should like to end my address by saying that it is with great satisfaction that I extend my congratulations to these 460 graduates who are now entitled to their hard-earned degrees and diplomas. With the training gained in the University you are now better equipped to face the future with confidence. All of us wish you every success in your future work and careers.

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