Raffles Health News - Raffles Medical Group

Raffles HealthNews UpClose 17So doc, why did you study medicine?NUS didn’t offer aeronautical engineeringat that time and architecture didn’t wantme.But what’s up with bones?When I was in medical school, I broke myleft arm in a rugby game. The idea of puttinga metal plate and screws inside someoneso fascinated me that I became hooked.You work at the Raffles OrthopaedicCentre, how would you like to see thiscentre “grow”?I would like our Orthopaedic Centre tocontinue to grow and to continue to buildup a reputation for professional, reliableand trustworthy work.Many don’t realise the capabilities ofour orthopaedic team. At this time, ourstrengths are in joint reconstruction,spine and sports surgery. Trauma hasalways been a foundational element ofall orthopaedic surgeons and we arestrong in this area too.There must be many fulfillingmoments at work, share with us amemorable incident.A missionary once brought a youngIndonesian girl to see me. She was froma poor village and had been hit by a car.As a result, she fractured her hip. Thefracture had been poorly treated andshe couldn’t walk or stand. Her leg wasalso shorter by a few centimetres. Wedid surgery on her at Raffles Hospitaland realigned everything. Between thehospital leadership, the missionariesand myself, we managed to fix herwithout her paying a cent. She recoveredand went home. A few months later, wevisited her at her secluded village. It wasvery rewarding to see her playing andrunning with her siblings and being ableto resume her work and life.That was indeed very rewarding.Outside of work, I heard you volunteeractively too.It’s not exactly volunteer work; it’smission work for God. The motivationcomes from the realisation that all I haveand all I am, all my training and whatskills I have are all from God, and I amjust doing the bare minimum when I giveback to God’s people a tiny fraction ofwhat I have received.How do you find a balance betweenyour career, mission work andspending time with your family?I prioritise; God, family, work and my owntime, in that order.You look like a sportsman, mostmen your age will be envious of yourfigure, what activities do you play?I grew up playing rugby and when Ican, I still play on Sundays. I also like torun and cycle. Once a year, I would gosomewhere to snowboard.Have you always been so fit?I was at my fittest when I was in juniorcollege. However, I’ve never reallystopped exercising since I started playingrugby at 13. Nowadays, all I can do issqueeze in whatever time I have to lowermy cholesterol and raise the metabolicrate.How about sharing with us yourexercise plan?Twice a week I’ll go to the gym to run andworkout. On weekends, I try to do a longrun on the road. Sometime in the week,I try and squeeze in a bicycle ride eitheron the roads or at the Bukit Timah trail.On some Sundays, I would play rugbywith friends.Diet?Horrible. I eat breakfast about four daysa week, lunch about the same frequencyand sometimes, I have dinner at 10pm.And I eat all sorts of junk.Hmm, any secret vices or indulgencesto confess?No vices as far as I can see butindulgences include my two bicycles, onemotorbike and my books. I love books- the feel and smell of them, and theDr Lim (top left) with his soccer team matespreciously strung words inside yearningto tell you something.Some men cannot accept the physicaland psychological changes that agecauses. What can they do?The best thing to do is accept that itwill happen; you can’t slow the physicalchanges. The psychological changesare very avoidable as long as yourecognize that the physical changes areinevitable. On a practical note, men canmake sure they exercise appropriatelyand regularly. On the psychologicalaspect, men should make every effort tocommunicate enough with their wife.What common complaints do youhear from your male friends besidesbeing clueless when it comes tounderstanding women?At this time, the most common complaint Ihear is the increasing numbers of achingjoints and backs because the people Imix with are, like me, entering the middleage years and moving forward to morecreakier years ahead.Somehow, the people I mix with don’tcomplain about women, much less aboutunderstanding them. Actually, most of usgave up on that idea in our twenties. HN