Public Health Screening 2014
Published: 10 Nov 2014
Public Health Screening (PHS) 2014 is an annual event by the NUS Medical Society that promotes health awareness by providing not only free health screening, but also public education and follow-up health and social services. Now into its 9th year, PHS has established itself as one of the largest free public health screenings in Singapore.
This year’s screening was held in partnership with the National University Health System (NUHS), with a central theme of “Promoting Health, Spreading Awareness”. The two day event took place on 11 and 12 October and attracted more than 1400 participants. Over 500 medical and nursing student volunteers were present to help participants to learn about their health status and what they can do to safeguard it. The event also saw many partner organisations setting up booths at the exhibition area in a joint effort to promote health and wellbeing through public education.
As part of PHS’s holistic efforts, volunteers directed participants with abnormal results to PHS’s new intervention programme with the NUHS, for further follow ups and specialist referrals, if necessary. Through the NUHS, participants who do not have a family doctor can opt to take up a complimentary free review with a family physician at Frontier Family Medicine Clinic (Frontier FMC). Frontier FMC, a Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) registered partner and the primary care partner of the NUHS is located at City Vibe in Clementi Central, a stone’s throw away from Clementi MRT. Participants deemed to require further specialist care can be directly referred to the National University Hospital, cancer and heart specialist centres under the NUHS umbrella.
Clementi was strategically chosen as the location for the screening this year given the maturity of the estate and proximity to nearby residential clusters. In an effort to reach out to more residents, students went door-to-door to distribute flyers and also initiated a health talk on “Colorectal Cancer” at Clementi Community Centre, prior to the event. Radio interviews on pertinent health topics were also aired on Power98 FM and Jia88.3 FM with the support of the School’s alumni doctors, to increase awareness of the event and also spread the message about the important of health.
Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, lent his support as the Guest-of-Honour for the event. The event was free and opened to public from 11 to 12 October 2014 from 8am to 5.30pm at Clementi Avenue 3.
To find out more about the PHS, please visit https://www.facebook.com/publichealthscreening
