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Saturday, 12 Jun, 2021
Three student associations form national alliance to represent the voice of all local medical students
This unprecedented alliance by the student bodies of Singapore’s three medical schools will unify and represent the voice of the local medical student community through regular dialogues and engagement with external stakeholders, and build on the sustained close relationships with organisations, including the Singapore Medical Association and Ministry of Health.
Singapore, 12 June 2021 - The National University of Singapore Medical Society, Duke-NUS Student Council and Nanyang Technological University Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Medical Society have come together to formalise the TriMedSoc Alliance, a first- of-its-kind collaboration between the student bodies of Singapore’s three medical schools. The alliance aims to unify the voice of local medical students, and to advance and synergise student advocacy and community engagement efforts.
The collaboration was inked during a virtual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Signing Ceremony this morning. Witnessing the signing were Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, Director of Medical Services at the Ministry of Health, together with the Deans of all three medical schools in Singapore (Professor Chong Yap Seng, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine; Professor Thomas Coffman, Duke-NUS; Professor Joseph Sung, NTU LKCMedicine)
The TriMedSoc recognises the unique strengths and resources of students from each medical school, and allows representative student bodies of the medical schools in Singapore to come together officially to synergise their student-led efforts.
Mr Teo Chong Boon, Chairperson Pro-Tempore of the TriMedSoc Alliance and President of the NUS Medical Society said, “The signing of this MOU formalises the establishment of the TriMedSoc Alliance. It also recognises the importance of the TriMedSoc Alliance in creating an ideal environment for the holistic development of future doctors, through closer collaboration in the areas of community service and engagement, student representation and advocacy efforts by local medical students. It is our sincere belief that the combined unity of TriMedSoc will allow us to further engender change for medical students and hopefully the wider medical fraternity on a larger scale than before.”
Since their inception, the student bodies of the local medical schools have remained steadfast in the service of their respective medical student populations through various initiatives in the fields of arts and culture, sports, academic support, and community service. In the wider community, medical students have upheld the spirit of community service embodied by generations of doctors through organising community health screening initiatives both locally and overseas.
“We are grateful for the wisdom of alumni who have laid the foundation for this unprecedented collaboration, and are humbled to bear witness to this landmark moment of partnership among local medical students despite the ongoing pandemic restrictions,” said Ms Katherine Nay Yaung, President of the Duke-NUS Student Council.
The MOU inked this morning lays out a framework of sustained and close collaboration between the three medical student representative bodies, with the goal of developing programmes and activities that support the holistic development of the medical student community in Singapore.
They also reinforce the student-led efforts in the medical student fraternity and the wider community. Following the signing, the TriMedSoc Alliance will also serve as the official student representative body for all medical students enrolled in the three local medical schools.
The founding committee of the TriMedSoc Alliance identified four key areas of collaboration in the immediate to medium term, which are set out in the MOU. These include community engagement initiatives, encouraging discourse among doctors-in-training on pertinent healthcare topics, supporting the holistic development of patient-centric doctors, and intensifying stakeholder engagement efforts to promote an active student voice and representation.
For instance, the TriMedSoc Alliance will organise a revamped version of the upcoming National Medical Student Convention (NMSC) slated for December.
Mr Sean Ng Ming Sheng, President of the NTU LKCMedicine Medical Society, said, “This year’s National Medical Student Convention (NMSC) will be unprecedented in both scale and outreach. We will go beyond keynote addresses and dialogues on pertinent healthcare topics to feature a hackathon where inter-school teams can brainstorm artificial intelligence and tech-enabled community engagement solutions. Through the hackathon, we hope to emphasise the spirit of service to the wider community that all future doctors should embody. An event of this scale is made possible only through the close collaboration among the three student representative bodies under the TriMedSoc Alliance.”
Bearing the mandate from their various student bodies, each student medical society will continue to serve as the official representative student body for their own school. Uniting under the TriMedSoc Alliance will allow the societies to combine their mandates and officially represent the best interests of all medical students in Singapore.
Annex: TriMedSoc Alliance Memorandum-of-Understanding (MOU) Signing Ceremony
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