Jul 26, 2010
New breed of 'sinsehs'
The TCM programme takes five years to complete and students graduate with both a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences from NTU and a Bachelor of Medicine (Chinese Medicine) from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM). -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
GROWING up, Ms Chew Siew Tiang dealt with her childhood colds not with a visit to a doctor, but with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It worked every time, strengthening her belief in the 5,000-year-old tradition and piquing her interest in it.
So when it came to choose a course of study at university, the former Victoria Junior College student opted for a path not many of her classmates were choosing - the double degree Biomedical Sciences-Chinese Medicine course at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), to combine her love of TCM with her interst in the hard sciences.
Meet the new breed of 'sinsehs', who graduated from the 'first of its kind in the world' degree on Monday. Ms Chew is one of 59 students of the pioneer batch of the programme, which started in 2005.
The TCM programme takes five years to complete and students graduate with both a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences from NTU and a Bachelor of Medicine (Chinese Medicine) from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM).
The programme was the brainchild of Professor James Tam, who wanted to bridge the gap between the Western and Eastern medicines and is the first of its kind in the world, said Professor Tam, who was formerly the dean of NTU's school of biological sciences.
'When I first brought up the idea, my colleagues thought I was insane. Most of them are trained in the Western sciences, and did not see how it could be paired with the teaching of TCM,' said the programme director. His dream was to educate a new breed of TCM physicians, he said.
Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
The 59 graduates studied three years at the NTU and another two at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. They will sit for the Singapore TCM Physicians Registration Examination this October - the final passage to becoming a practising physician. Evelyn Choo
By Evelyn Choo | Posted: 26 July 2010 2125 hrs
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SINGAPORE : Western medicine is known to lean heavily on evidence, while Eastern medicine relies on observation.
They are poles apart but they have been combined in a unique double degree offered by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
A growing spate of health problems plagues Asia's ageing population, and this programme is NTU's answer to creating a sustainable way of managing the situation.
Professor James Tam, director, Biomedical Sciences/Chinese Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, said: "Some of my colleagues think it is insane, simply because we are pairing a science with Chinese medicine...the empirical way is really not quite understandable to Western scientists. We need to bridge a continuum, bridge...Chinese medicine and Western science."
At the forefront of the vision is the pioneer batch of graduates from the Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences and the Bachelor of Chinese Medicine.
The course requires students to spend three years in NTU and another two years at a university in Beijing. It has been touted as being as tough to get in as a medical degree programme.
Professor Tam said: "We are educating a new breed of informed, Chinese medicine physicians. They must be...really good in both English and Chinese, not only communicative Chinese, but written Chinese. They are studying Chinese medicine that has been written thousands of years ago."
Making the cut is aspiring 24-year-old physician Ong Yi Ting, who is the top student of NTU's School of Biological Sciences.
She will sit for the Singapore TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Physicians Registration Examination in October - to be deemed fit to be a practising physician.
She said: "It is not conventional medicine. But I think that TCM has survived five millennia - there is definitely some value in it. And being Chinese myself, I think it is an intricate part of Chinese culture that I would like to preserve and pass on to future generations."
The school does not intend to increase its small intake of 60 students a year, due to its stringent selection criteria, even as NTU sees its largest graduating cohort ever this year.
A preliminary survey has shown that 72 per cent of graduands have secured employment before their graduation. - CNA/ms
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