A somewhat more varied collection this time, thanks to recommendations from Twitter and gifts from friends. Still too few books read for my liking. The 4th book in Brent Week’s Lightbringer series, which has an novel setting even for a fantasy series. I have enjoyed his writing even though it is not as riveting as Brandon […]
Attending the 10th edition of the biennial Singapore AIDS Conference at the NUHS Tower Block. A remarkable achievement – both the conference itself, as well as the progress made in Singapore over 31 years (our first local case of HIV was diagnosed in May 1985). Such progress is testament to the passion and efforts of […]
After tying 6-6 at classical time controls – including a short and incredibly dull final game that must have left on-site spectators feeling cheated – Carlsen and Karjakin played a tiebreak match of 4 rapid games (25 minutes with 10-second increment per move) early this morning (New York time 2pm). And what an incredible series […]
A study published in JAMA this week showed that antibiotics were the most common cause of adverse drug events in younger (age <65 years) patients presenting to the emergency departments of 58 sentinel hospitals in the US, and the second most common cause in those above 65 years of age. As a whole, an adverse […]
I spent a pleasant afternoon yesterday listening to various presentations on completed and semi-completed projects at the SIDI Research Symposium at Waterfront Copthorne (Declaration: I am the current director of the Singapore Infectious Diseases Initiative, or SIDI for short). The projects were very diverse in nature, ranging from basic science to clinical research as well […]
We live in strange times: worsening weather, Brexit, President Trump. In the not-too-distant past, I would have estimated Russian ex-prodigy and super-grandmaster Sergey Karjakin’s chance of toppling world champion Magnus Carlsen as being close to zero. The former is ranked number 9 in terms of chess ratings (Carlsen has been number 1 for the past […]
It was reported in the news that the Thai cabinet has approved a national action plan by the Public Health Ministry to halve antibiotic-resistant infections by 2021. This is one of the most ambitious pledges by any government in the battle against antimicrobial resistance to date. I could not find the policy plan online, but […]
I used to think that trying to establish antibiotic stewardship in Singapore in an outpatient setting, just like in private hospitals, was a relatively futile exercise. Multiple factors (or so I thought) contribute to the failure of any serious effort that goes beyond public or physician education, including: Patients who insist on antibiotics (and who can easily obtain […]
Two further observances were held at TTSH and SGH on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th November. There was also a booth set up at NUH on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week. All events were organised by the respective hospital antimicrobial stewardship programme (ASP) members. Unfortunately I do not have access to more professionally taken […]
Here are some photos of the WAAW event at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, organised by NTFGH Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme team. I had the honour of being invited to give a talk at that event. All photos were taken by Pearl Gan.
MIPHIDIC 