"My dog scratches her face vigorously, non-stop last night," the lady with red eyes showed me a young Shih Tzu with bright red cheek, ear and eye areas. "Is she suffering from an allergy?" Her friend had brought her in to Toa Payoh Vets on this fine Saturday morning, May 12, 2012.
I was present from 9 am as I was conducting a "trust and audit" process on Dr Jason Teo. This is part of effective management of a licensse to ensure a high standard of veterinary care and to rectify errors and ommissions of the practice.
"I remember your case," I said to the friend as I fished out the card assuming that the affected dog belonged to the introducer. The lady with the red eyes said: "I just want a second opinion. For the past one and a half week after treatment by Vet 1, my dog is not getting better. She is still very itchy and her skin is full of red sores."
I put the dog on the examination table and viewed the records and medication of Vet 1.
"Most likely, your dog has scabies," I pointed to the crusted lumps on the ear edges. "Just like your friend's dog I treated some 4 weeks ago."
"No," the lady with the red eyes showed me a bottle of an anti-fungal liquid medication which stated "for cats", an ear drop bottle and an enzyme-based shampoo. "Vet 1 had written in the case sheet - no sarcoptic or demodectic mite seen. She said my dog has malassezia inside the ears." Vet 1 had confirmed by staining."
"It is possible that your dog has malassezia, a yeast infection." I said. "Negative skin scrapings do not mean there are no scabies. After all, your friend's dog, the sibling of this dog, had scabies."
"It is not possible as our dogs don't meet." she said.
"Scabies can be transmitted by owners' hand. Did you touch her dog earlier?"
"Yes, kiss and hugs."
"So your hands could have transmitted scabies mites to your own dog. When did you touch your friend's dog?"
"One to two months ago."
"How is the scabies dog now?" I asked the friend. "Do you remember seeing one scabies mite under the microscope?"
"Yes," the friend said. "My dog is fully cured now. I complied with all your instructions."
"Normally it will take 2 weeks and one injection to recover," I said.
"My dog recovered in 1 week as the hair grew (back on the ear edges)."
So, now I have to prove that this lady's dog has scabies. I asked Dr Jason and Mr Min to do a few skin scrapings. "Make sure it is deeper. There is no need to use oil. A drop of water will do." So both took the dog back room and produced a skin scraping as the case was Dr Jason.
I examined the skin scraping. There was no scabies mites.
"I can't find any mite," I said to the lady. "I will have to do a deeper skin scraping to look for the mites." The lady cringed at the thought of drawing more blood from the ear edge skin scraping as she could feel the pain of her young dog.
Dr Jason shook his head when I told him there was no mites seen from the ear crust. "No mites, no scabies." Simple as that. "It could be ear trauma."
Yet the clinical signs of intense itchiness of the face, cheeks and ears over one and a half weeks meant some mites burrowing. The elbows and hocks were reddish and hairless. The backside had several ringworm like patches. So, there was some pathogens. Malassezia and ringworm medication was given and there was no improvement.
"Is the anti-fungal medication bottle that states 'for cats' safe for use in dogs?" the lady with red eyes asked me.
"Well, the liquid medication in the bootle is not produced by the drug company for dogs. So, it is marketed for cats. However, the dog can take the medication if given appropriate doses."
The problem is that the young female dog is still scratching intensely.
On second thoughts, I reviewed the slide again instead of doing another skin scraping. Hoping against hope. And there, a fat looking squarish mite was moving his six claws under the slide!
The owner saw it under the higher power. I got the power to the lower one and the mite was distinctly seen.
So, there was proof of scabies.
No smoke with fire. No scabies without scabie mites. I could find only one. But that is sufficient as it is sometimes very difficult to find them. Unless the skin scraping is deeper as the mites burrow under the skin.
Once the diagnosis is there, the treatment is routine. However, this sibling seems to have some systemic disease like hormonal disorder as the whole body is affected, except for the trunk. I needed a blood test and the owner consented. This may not be a simple case of scabies and malassezia. It may be related to a poor immune system or hormonal imbalance like an early stage of "polycystic ovary syndome." It is hard to say at this stage as more tests can be expensive. Two siblings. One had scabies only on the ear edges. This one had the whole body infested with skin disease. Why?
Monday, May 14, 2012
998. Sunday's interesting case. An old Beagle drips lots of reddish brown urine
Sunday May 13, 2012
I was at the Surgery in the morning and saw a large amount of reddish brown urine drops in the waiting and consultation room. Dr Daniel was consulting with the owners and Mr Min was mopping the floor. If I were Dr Daniel, I would restrain the dog on the consultation table but each vet does his own thing and so this situation led to bloody urine every where. I mean, if the waiting room was full, the other clients would be most unhappy to see blood everywhere.
This is what I mean by "common sense" in a vet who handles a case. Restrict the dog's movement or crate her. I did my trust and audit in this case. The X-ray showed around 6 small radio-opaque stones of around 4 mm x 6 mm and other sizes. Dr Daniel said were unlikely to cause so much bladder bleeding. Each vet has his own opinion and so that is life.
I disagreed with him as there was one stone with a sharp edge, like a dagger. This sharp stone swished about inside the bladder would have stabbed the bladder mucosa and cause bleeding. "This is not chronic cystitis," Dr Daniel disagreed with me. "The blood in the urine occurred only 2 weeks ago." This is a difference of opinion.
An old Beagle. Likely to be a bladder carcinoma as well. Dr Daniel advised ultrasound and surgery with high anaesthetic risks of death on the op table. Since the dog's red blood cells were low, his opinion was that this dog would not survive the operation. So what to do? The consultation took more than 30 minutes and he was still talking.
I intervened by entering the consultation room which had a bloodied floor now. I said to the couple: "Basically, you have two options. Consent to an operation and know the high risks and get the stones removed. If there is cancer of the bladder, give us consent to euthanase the dog during surgery. The other option is to medicate and euthanase the dog when the drugs don't work as she is suffering from pain and incontinence. In the meantime, get the dog on the IV drip, painkillers and antibiotics for at least one day and before surgery."
Vets can't afford the luxury of time on a busy Sunday morning to handle a case for more than 30 minutes unless it is necessary. Others have to wait a longer time. Owners of hospitalised dogs need to be called. The sick dogs need to be checked and there are many things to do. So, it is not possible to keep on talking while the old Beagle keeps on dripping.
I was at the Surgery in the morning and saw a large amount of reddish brown urine drops in the waiting and consultation room. Dr Daniel was consulting with the owners and Mr Min was mopping the floor. If I were Dr Daniel, I would restrain the dog on the consultation table but each vet does his own thing and so this situation led to bloody urine every where. I mean, if the waiting room was full, the other clients would be most unhappy to see blood everywhere.
This is what I mean by "common sense" in a vet who handles a case. Restrict the dog's movement or crate her. I did my trust and audit in this case. The X-ray showed around 6 small radio-opaque stones of around 4 mm x 6 mm and other sizes. Dr Daniel said were unlikely to cause so much bladder bleeding. Each vet has his own opinion and so that is life.
I disagreed with him as there was one stone with a sharp edge, like a dagger. This sharp stone swished about inside the bladder would have stabbed the bladder mucosa and cause bleeding. "This is not chronic cystitis," Dr Daniel disagreed with me. "The blood in the urine occurred only 2 weeks ago." This is a difference of opinion.
An old Beagle. Likely to be a bladder carcinoma as well. Dr Daniel advised ultrasound and surgery with high anaesthetic risks of death on the op table. Since the dog's red blood cells were low, his opinion was that this dog would not survive the operation. So what to do? The consultation took more than 30 minutes and he was still talking.
I intervened by entering the consultation room which had a bloodied floor now. I said to the couple: "Basically, you have two options. Consent to an operation and know the high risks and get the stones removed. If there is cancer of the bladder, give us consent to euthanase the dog during surgery. The other option is to medicate and euthanase the dog when the drugs don't work as she is suffering from pain and incontinence. In the meantime, get the dog on the IV drip, painkillers and antibiotics for at least one day and before surgery."
Vets can't afford the luxury of time on a busy Sunday morning to handle a case for more than 30 minutes unless it is necessary. Others have to wait a longer time. Owners of hospitalised dogs need to be called. The sick dogs need to be checked and there are many things to do. So, it is not possible to keep on talking while the old Beagle keeps on dripping.
997. Trust and Audit on a Saturday
Saturday May 12, 2012, I did a trust and audit on Dr Jason Teo's work at Toa Payoh Vets by going to the Surgery at 9 am. Dr Teo starts work at 11 am - 12 noon and 3 pm to 5 pm by appointment only and this have been his practice for the past 5 years. It is not a practice I will endorse in view of the mushrooming of 45 veterinary clinics in Singapore with more to come.
Dr Teo has set up his own practice and there have been issues of conflicts of interests. He will be on duty on Saturdays and I asked if he really wanted to be away from his own practice which he can build up. I have not decided what to do with his hours of work but he must be available during the hours and in between, another vet like me will be present.
As the founder and licensee, I will have to make hard decisions as to what to do. The status quo cannot remain as clientele numbers are increasing due to referrals.
Dr Teo has set up his own practice and there have been issues of conflicts of interests. He will be on duty on Saturdays and I asked if he really wanted to be away from his own practice which he can build up. I have not decided what to do with his hours of work but he must be available during the hours and in between, another vet like me will be present.
As the founder and licensee, I will have to make hard decisions as to what to do. The status quo cannot remain as clientele numbers are increasing due to referrals.
996. National Family Celebrations, 2012 Singapore
Singapore has many organisations promoting family bonding and work-life balances nowadays. That means a 5-day week, high pay and generous leave of up to 4 months in the case of maternity entitlement.
Unfortunately, the cost of living keeps shooting up due to many government's policies and so it is quite rough on the younger generation. Take the COE (Certificate of Entitlement) to buy a new car policy. Now, it is bidded at around S$50,000 and will shoot up further.
For example, in Perth in the same period of time, a young man or woman undergraduate can buy a car for S$5,000 and be mobile. I know of a young lady vet who has now graduated. She bought an older car with a clicking noise whenever she changed gears. I was worried for her as I wondered whether the constant clicking would cause sparks and set fire to her car. But she was OK with this. It was around $500 and here in Singapore, $500 may buy you a car tire.
Therefore in Singapore, after the vet graduated from Australia and comes to work at home in Singapore, he must pay around $50,000 to buy a decent 10-year-old car.
Back to the National Family Celebrations 2012, I got an email as follows:
E-MAIL TO DR SING DATED MAY 7, 2012
Dear Businesses for Families Pledgers
CALL TO SUPPORT NATIONAL FAMILY CELEBRATIONS 2012
The National Family Celebrations is an annual month-long event that seeks to promote, strengthen and celebrate families. It is organised by the National Family Council (NFC), a people sector-led committee that aims to build resilient families in Singapore, with strong support from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS).
2 Running strong for the 27th year, National Family Celebrations has been an iconic national event earmarked by many families in Singapore. Last year, National Family Celebrations (NFC’11) adopted the theme “Connecting Youths with Their Family”. It aimed to engage the youths and inculcate a family first mindset among them. NFC’11 was a big draw to families, with active participation of over 400,000 people at 330 ground events organised by our partners throughout the month-long celebrations.
3 This year, NFC’12 will be held from 25 May (Friday) to 23 June (Saturday) 2012. With the theme “Family Time Odyssey: Past. Present. Future”, NFC’12 boasts a strong line up of interesting activities for families. Details of the Celebrations are at Annex 1.
4 It is our pleasure to invite your business to participate in this year’s Celebrations. We believe that this will offer an excellent opportunity for your organisation to strengthen your branding and extend your outreach, while joining a meaningful cause of promoting strong families in Singapore. As part of our Businesses for Families Community, we strongly encourage you to offer special discounts, promotions and packages for families (two or three generational families) during NFC’12. If you have any existing family discounts or promotions that coincide with the Celebrations period, do let us know. We will be happy to include them.
5 Please let us have the details of your family discounts and promotions (offered during the celebration period) at Annex 2 by 18 May 2012 (Friday). We will help publicise them in two websites: www.nfc.sg (National Family Celebrations) and www.bfc.sg (Businesses for Families Council). To submit your offers or for more information, you may contact:
Mr Mervyn Seah
Secretariat, Businesses for Families Council
E-mail: mervyn_seah@mcys.gov.sg
Fax: 6354 9868
Tel: 6354 9847
6 As our valued partners, we hope that you can support us in this meaningful cause, as we promote family values and strengthen families in Singapore. We look forward to your favourable reply.
Thank you!
E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED MAY 11, 2012
I am Dr Sing from Toa Payoh Vets. Family pets are family members for all Singaporeans. Health screening of the older pets over 2 years is important. I have offered a 10% discount on blood test for the family dog or cat for the 2 months, May 25 to July 28, 2012, as attached in your Annex 2. Pl phone me at 9668 6468 for more info. Thank you.
E-MAIL TO DR SING DATED MAY 11, 2012
Hi Dr Sing
Thank you very much for your kind support in NFC.
To make the offer more family targeted, we suggest adding the following terms and conditions:
“Discount is only applicable when families of at least 2 generations are present”
For your approval please.
Please also kindly provide your business logo for us to attach the offer under.
Thank you.
Best Regards
Mervyn Seah (Mr) / Businesses for Families Council
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
| DID: (65) 6354 9847 | Fax: (65) 6354 9868 | Website: www.mcys.gov.sg / http://www.bfc.sg
E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED MAY 14, 2012
It is not practical to insist on 2 generations to be present because most pet owners do not have cars or spaces to bring their 2 generations to see a vet. Usually it is the parent and the younger children.
Logo is attached:
Pl let me know if you have published any of my offers. Thank you.
Unfortunately, the cost of living keeps shooting up due to many government's policies and so it is quite rough on the younger generation. Take the COE (Certificate of Entitlement) to buy a new car policy. Now, it is bidded at around S$50,000 and will shoot up further.
For example, in Perth in the same period of time, a young man or woman undergraduate can buy a car for S$5,000 and be mobile. I know of a young lady vet who has now graduated. She bought an older car with a clicking noise whenever she changed gears. I was worried for her as I wondered whether the constant clicking would cause sparks and set fire to her car. But she was OK with this. It was around $500 and here in Singapore, $500 may buy you a car tire.
Therefore in Singapore, after the vet graduated from Australia and comes to work at home in Singapore, he must pay around $50,000 to buy a decent 10-year-old car.
Back to the National Family Celebrations 2012, I got an email as follows:
E-MAIL TO DR SING DATED MAY 7, 2012
Dear Businesses for Families Pledgers
CALL TO SUPPORT NATIONAL FAMILY CELEBRATIONS 2012
The National Family Celebrations is an annual month-long event that seeks to promote, strengthen and celebrate families. It is organised by the National Family Council (NFC), a people sector-led committee that aims to build resilient families in Singapore, with strong support from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS).
2 Running strong for the 27th year, National Family Celebrations has been an iconic national event earmarked by many families in Singapore. Last year, National Family Celebrations (NFC’11) adopted the theme “Connecting Youths with Their Family”. It aimed to engage the youths and inculcate a family first mindset among them. NFC’11 was a big draw to families, with active participation of over 400,000 people at 330 ground events organised by our partners throughout the month-long celebrations.
3 This year, NFC’12 will be held from 25 May (Friday) to 23 June (Saturday) 2012. With the theme “Family Time Odyssey: Past. Present. Future”, NFC’12 boasts a strong line up of interesting activities for families. Details of the Celebrations are at Annex 1.
4 It is our pleasure to invite your business to participate in this year’s Celebrations. We believe that this will offer an excellent opportunity for your organisation to strengthen your branding and extend your outreach, while joining a meaningful cause of promoting strong families in Singapore. As part of our Businesses for Families Community, we strongly encourage you to offer special discounts, promotions and packages for families (two or three generational families) during NFC’12. If you have any existing family discounts or promotions that coincide with the Celebrations period, do let us know. We will be happy to include them.
5 Please let us have the details of your family discounts and promotions (offered during the celebration period) at Annex 2 by 18 May 2012 (Friday). We will help publicise them in two websites: www.nfc.sg (National Family Celebrations) and www.bfc.sg (Businesses for Families Council). To submit your offers or for more information, you may contact:
Mr Mervyn Seah
Secretariat, Businesses for Families Council
E-mail: mervyn_seah@mcys.gov.sg
Fax: 6354 9868
Tel: 6354 9847
6 As our valued partners, we hope that you can support us in this meaningful cause, as we promote family values and strengthen families in Singapore. We look forward to your favourable reply.
Thank you!
E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED MAY 11, 2012
I am Dr Sing from Toa Payoh Vets. Family pets are family members for all Singaporeans. Health screening of the older pets over 2 years is important. I have offered a 10% discount on blood test for the family dog or cat for the 2 months, May 25 to July 28, 2012, as attached in your Annex 2. Pl phone me at 9668 6468 for more info. Thank you.
E-MAIL TO DR SING DATED MAY 11, 2012
Hi Dr Sing
Thank you very much for your kind support in NFC.
To make the offer more family targeted, we suggest adding the following terms and conditions:
“Discount is only applicable when families of at least 2 generations are present”
For your approval please.
Please also kindly provide your business logo for us to attach the offer under.
Thank you.
Best Regards
Mervyn Seah (Mr) / Businesses for Families Council
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
| DID: (65) 6354 9847 | Fax: (65) 6354 9868 | Website: www.mcys.gov.sg / http://www.bfc.sg
E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED MAY 14, 2012
It is not practical to insist on 2 generations to be present because most pet owners do not have cars or spaces to bring their 2 generations to see a vet. Usually it is the parent and the younger children.
Logo is attached:
Pl let me know if you have published any of my offers. Thank you.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
995. Sunday's interesting cases. The Alsatian hates going to the vet
Sunday's Interesting Cases. May 13, 2012
My god-daughter's dog had a skin growth (like cyst) on left. I went to the house and the mum drove the dog and me and 2nd daughter, Belle to Toa Payoh Vets. She seldom used my services as I don't charge her and she preferred to pay. So, she does not know my surgery location and I went to her house at 9.00 am to pick up the dog with her driving.
The Alsatian reached my surgery at 10 am but would not accept injection by Dr Daniel. So there was an impasse. "Cannot do inside the consultation room. Will not allow injection if put on the consultation table" Belle said. So much time had been wasted. Sunday is a busy day and in any case, productivity counts a lot to me. But this dog would not permit IV sedation. I had prepared the domitor+ketamine IV at 50%. Belle took the restless dog outside to the waiting area while her mum watched. Much time is wasted in this impasse. Dr Daniel could not do much but to wait for the dog to settle down. Will the dog ever settle down? He has much anxiety whenever he goes into the car to see a vet. "That is the only time he goes inside the car," the mum told me. "So he knows it is to go to the vet." The mum had bought online in Perth a back seat protective canvas cover which hooks onto the headrest of the two front seats and then into the back seats hook. Therefore, the car seats would not be soiled by hairs et.
"I will inject the dog," I said as I knew waiting was not the solution and would not be productive and efficient on a Sunday morning. Clients would stream in after 11 am. Dr Daniel gave me the syringe. But I decided that he must learn how to handle such difficult situations without wasting time. But easier said than done.
"The vet has to think out of the box," I said to the mum. "If the dog is afraid of the vet practice and smell, take it out far away." I asked Bernice to take her dog 6 shops away from Toa Payoh Vets. Then what?
I asked Dr Daniel and Min to go there.
"Belle," I shouted from 6 shops away at my surgery's main door. "Put your leg under his tummy." But she could not do it as Min and Dr Daniel were obstrcting her. I could see the dog becoming more nervous and fidgety. He was muzzled and so not a threat. "Stand in front of your dog," I shouted. "He must see you to remain calm." From what Dr Daniel told me later, Belle is the only person who can handle this dog inside the car.
Well, Dr Daniel and Min and Belle managed to give the IV. Of course, the dog could still walk as he was only given 50% of the dosage. "Wait 5 minutes," I asked Belle to walk the dog outdoors for 5 minutes while Julia chatted with the mum who had a busy lunch appointment and needed to drive home soon.
After a while, I couldn't see her as she had walked the dog to the back of the building. I asked her mum who was rushing to go home to change and we saw Belle at the back of the surgery walking the ataxic dog. Dr Daniel took over. Both mother and daughter left to go home first.
"I give you my mobile number to phone me when Texan is ready to go home," she said.
"Come in one hour's time," I said. "Dental scaling and removal of the lump should be completed in less than one hour. If not, there is something wrong with the vet." A procedure has certain key performance indicators and benchmarks of completion.
At 10.44 am Belle sms me for the address of the surgery: "Can SMS me your clinic address? In case I get lost". This is Singapore English and the "Speak Good English Committee will lose their hairs in reading her SMS!
I texted: "1002 toa payoh lor 8, 01-1477. S. 319074. Dog ready to go home."
Belle texted: "Wah so fast! K will come as soon as Mei is ready. She drowsy?"
"Yes," I texted in a reserved manner as I dare not take liberties in texting with an old friend's daughter in case of misunderstandings with the parents. My generation is more conservative and less expressive and so I don't do it in SMS.
I informed Dr Daniel that Belle will be coming. The younger generation is so much
abbreviated in Singapore English. It will be hard to change their mindset since there was no emphasis on good English writing during the school years. So a "Speak Good English" organisation has the uphill task of doing the corrections.
Belle is a tall slim and fair young lady graduate whom I have known since she was born. Now she must be 27 years old. This shows how fast babies grow or how ancient I am now. To her, the whole process of dental scaling and lump removal seemed quick. To me, the whole procedure had been very slow. From arrival at the Surgery at around 9.45 am to going home at around 11.30 am.
The skin lump would be sent for histopathology and we hope it is not a skin tumour. It looked cystic and nodular, around 8 mm x 8 mm x 3 mm. Who knows till the histopathology results come out.
My god-daughter's dog had a skin growth (like cyst) on left. I went to the house and the mum drove the dog and me and 2nd daughter, Belle to Toa Payoh Vets. She seldom used my services as I don't charge her and she preferred to pay. So, she does not know my surgery location and I went to her house at 9.00 am to pick up the dog with her driving.
The Alsatian reached my surgery at 10 am but would not accept injection by Dr Daniel. So there was an impasse. "Cannot do inside the consultation room. Will not allow injection if put on the consultation table" Belle said. So much time had been wasted. Sunday is a busy day and in any case, productivity counts a lot to me. But this dog would not permit IV sedation. I had prepared the domitor+ketamine IV at 50%. Belle took the restless dog outside to the waiting area while her mum watched. Much time is wasted in this impasse. Dr Daniel could not do much but to wait for the dog to settle down. Will the dog ever settle down? He has much anxiety whenever he goes into the car to see a vet. "That is the only time he goes inside the car," the mum told me. "So he knows it is to go to the vet." The mum had bought online in Perth a back seat protective canvas cover which hooks onto the headrest of the two front seats and then into the back seats hook. Therefore, the car seats would not be soiled by hairs et.
"I will inject the dog," I said as I knew waiting was not the solution and would not be productive and efficient on a Sunday morning. Clients would stream in after 11 am. Dr Daniel gave me the syringe. But I decided that he must learn how to handle such difficult situations without wasting time. But easier said than done.
"The vet has to think out of the box," I said to the mum. "If the dog is afraid of the vet practice and smell, take it out far away." I asked Bernice to take her dog 6 shops away from Toa Payoh Vets. Then what?
I asked Dr Daniel and Min to go there.
"Belle," I shouted from 6 shops away at my surgery's main door. "Put your leg under his tummy." But she could not do it as Min and Dr Daniel were obstrcting her. I could see the dog becoming more nervous and fidgety. He was muzzled and so not a threat. "Stand in front of your dog," I shouted. "He must see you to remain calm." From what Dr Daniel told me later, Belle is the only person who can handle this dog inside the car.
Well, Dr Daniel and Min and Belle managed to give the IV. Of course, the dog could still walk as he was only given 50% of the dosage. "Wait 5 minutes," I asked Belle to walk the dog outdoors for 5 minutes while Julia chatted with the mum who had a busy lunch appointment and needed to drive home soon.
After a while, I couldn't see her as she had walked the dog to the back of the building. I asked her mum who was rushing to go home to change and we saw Belle at the back of the surgery walking the ataxic dog. Dr Daniel took over. Both mother and daughter left to go home first.
"I give you my mobile number to phone me when Texan is ready to go home," she said.
"Come in one hour's time," I said. "Dental scaling and removal of the lump should be completed in less than one hour. If not, there is something wrong with the vet." A procedure has certain key performance indicators and benchmarks of completion.
At 10.44 am Belle sms me for the address of the surgery: "Can SMS me your clinic address? In case I get lost". This is Singapore English and the "Speak Good English Committee will lose their hairs in reading her SMS!
I texted: "1002 toa payoh lor 8, 01-1477. S. 319074. Dog ready to go home."
Belle texted: "Wah so fast! K will come as soon as Mei is ready. She drowsy?"
"Yes," I texted in a reserved manner as I dare not take liberties in texting with an old friend's daughter in case of misunderstandings with the parents. My generation is more conservative and less expressive and so I don't do it in SMS.
I informed Dr Daniel that Belle will be coming. The younger generation is so much
abbreviated in Singapore English. It will be hard to change their mindset since there was no emphasis on good English writing during the school years. So a "Speak Good English" organisation has the uphill task of doing the corrections.
Belle is a tall slim and fair young lady graduate whom I have known since she was born. Now she must be 27 years old. This shows how fast babies grow or how ancient I am now. To her, the whole process of dental scaling and lump removal seemed quick. To me, the whole procedure had been very slow. From arrival at the Surgery at around 9.45 am to going home at around 11.30 am.
The skin lump would be sent for histopathology and we hope it is not a skin tumour. It looked cystic and nodular, around 8 mm x 8 mm x 3 mm. Who knows till the histopathology results come out.
994. Part 2. Dr Goh Keng Swee's few good men and women
| Dr Goh
Keng Swee's few good men and women tasked to reverse the
horse racing decline - Part 2Dr Sing Kong
Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS13 May, 2012
Part 1 was written in June 2011; the webpage is at: http://www.sinpets.com/F5/201006256history-1988-horse-racing-decline-veterinary-ToaPayohVets.htm As the Club veterinarian, my job was to diagnose and treat race horses. There was no need for me to do management which would involve lots of meetings, gathering of facts and figures and making forecasts. When the Singapore Totalisator Board (STB) took over the horse-racing operations around 1988 and appointed the Bukit Turf Club as its agent, my employment contract was assigned to the Bukit Turf Club (BTC) with its own new managers. Changes are a constant in life and this new development of a new STB and BTC was a tsunami for the employees of the side-lined Singapore Turf Club (STC) which was a private club at that time. Many of us, including the Personnel Manager, knew our days of employment were numbered as the new management would replace us in time to come. New brooms sweep clean and this is the way of life. I had decided to go back to private practice treating dogs and cats and small animals and therefore I would just wait till my employment contract expired. I was given another one-year contract by the Bukit Turf Club and I accepted it. In the interim period, I was part of the task force formed by the STB to reverse the decline in racing. The task force comprised a small group of people under the leadership of Mr Quek Chee Hoon, the general manager of the STB. Excluding the STB's management staff, there was the BTC management staff. The Betting Manager, the Racing Manager and the Junior Veterinary Surgeon (myself) were the main work horses, working for the dormant STC earlier and were now the employees of the BTC. There was Ms Violet Lim, a Ms Universe Singapore, as the Manager in charge of this task force and she would be the one to produce the findings and give the recommendations to Mr Quek Chee Hoon, in my observation. Mr Quek would do his own visits and had others doing research. Once we had a meeting with Mr Quek and he said that the propeller-type aircraft door could not be closed tightly open when he flew to Sabah for a meeting, when the Racing Manager mentioned some matters about aviation. I went with the task force to visit and research the horse-racing clubs in Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand. The members were supposed to write their comments to Ms Violet Lim. We had a tough time writing anything to reverse the decline in Singapore horse-racing, since we were not into writing reports under the old STC. Our lives were hands-on technical work and no writing management reports. Maybe the Racing Manager would compile some racing statistics for the STC Annual Report to Mr Thompson, the General Manager of the STC. So it was up to poor Ms Lim who asked us to write our observations after the overseas trip. But she would be able to do the writing as I believe she was trained in accountancy or business-management matters. Beauty and brains are a powerful combination for the business of racing and Ms Lim was a good catch for the BTC, in my opinion. After several weeks, including interviewing (as suggested by me), a prominent stock broker committee member of the STC and a brother of the then Prime Minister for their views to reverse the decline in horse-racing, there would be a presentation of the report by Mr Quek Chee Hoon to the Board of Directors of the STB and the BTC in the STB office in Alexandria PSA Tower. I did talk to the trainers and the jockeys and would submit my observations and analysis of the facts and figures by faxing a page of report with "analysis", directly to Mr Quek Chee Hoon. For example, I had faxed once, a report that a 3-horse race should not be permitted to start as it would be easy to fix the race and "tum" the tote. At that time, there was an insufficient number of horse running per race and so 3-horse races were permitted. As Mr Quek did not speak to me directly, there being a hierarchy of management from the Chief Stipendiary Steward as my boss to the General Manager of the BTC and then to STC, I did not expect any reply from him nor did he contact me. One day, the Racing Manager mentioned to me that Mr Quek asked him why he did not provide the "Analysis" when he submitted the racing statistics to Mr Quek. I did not inform him about my few faxed reports with "Analysis" to Mr Quek. Finally, the big day came for presentation of the report by Mr Quek to the Board. "You have to be present," Mr Quek instructed the Betting and Racing Managers and myself through Mr Lim. Just in case, we had to answer some questions from the Board. Mr Quek presented slides from a projector. There were no fanciful Power Point slides in 1989, if I remember correctly. At the end of his presentation, Mr E.W. Barker, a well-respected politician, horseman and Chairman of the BTC said "Good report, well done." Some 2- 3 weeks after Mr Quek's presentation, an inaugural racing magazine published a report on racing written by me. The Editor wanted an article on horse-racing and since I had done much research on the "racing decline", I gave him my report. It took me many weeks to compress all my research and findings into this report. It was a "monotonous black and white report" and I did not think of submitting this to Ms Lim or anybody as the report was in a mess of text, pictures and graphs that needed to be gelled to be readable. However, the magazine Editor had staff and produced this report in an interesting way, with colour and good layout. I hoped that this report would have an impact in an inaugural magazine rather than some pieces of written report to the STB and benefit the trainers and jockeys. I do not know whether it was of any use. A few days after the publication of this article, the General Manager of the BTC wanted to see me in his office and to let me know that all publications should be vetted first. I expected this administrative control in any organisation. So I phoned the magazine Editor to kill Part 2 of this article. It is 2012 now and I believe that the horse trainers and jockeys have a better stake in racing than before the STB took over.Dr Goh Keng Swee's few good men and women tasked to reverse the horse racing decline - Parts 1 & 2 will be located at Horses in www.toapayohvets.com |
993. Dr Goh Keng Swee's few good men & women tasked to reverse the decline in racing - Part 1
| Dr Goh Keng Swee's few good men and women tasked to reverse the horse racing decline - Part 1Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS17 June, 2011 |  toapayohvets.com Be Kind To Pets Veterinary Education Project 2010-0129 | ||
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http://www.sinpets.com/F5/201006256history-1988-horse-racing-decline-veterinary-ToaPayohVets.htm
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