SCP Courses

The Management of Infectious Disease Outbreak Course was conducted by Communicable Disease Centre, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (Singapore) and Avicenne Hospital (France) from 30 June to 4 July 2008.

The five-day course familiarised 17 participants from 8 ASEAN countries with general concepts of disease outbreak management and the development of appropriate response plans that could suitably address and control the situation. To combat infectious diseases that do not respect borders, the SCP participants learnt about new, emerging & re-emerging contagious diseases, epidemiological principles and its applications, the building-up of the hospitals' infrastructural capabilities and applying effective infection control practices and measures.

An Outbreak Simulation Exercise was conducted on the last day of the course to allow our SCP participants to apply what they had learnt and shared during the course. The simulation also prepared them to work as a team to handle critical situations during an event of outbreak of disease. "What you take back to your respective countries will be the know-how on strengthing your home defences against the spread of infectious diseases. But above all, you can take comfort in the fact that you are not alone in this fight against infectious diseases, you have the support of your friends from ASEAN" said Mr. Antoine Mynard from the French Embassy, Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs at the closing ceremony of the course.

One of the SCP participants, Dr Emylina HJ Abo Rahman commented at the close of the course, "It has been exciting listening to the experience shared by Singapore and other countries in terms of disease outbreak management. The knowledge that I gained from this course could be adopted at home when needs arise."

The Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) recently welcomed our first participant from Croatia, Ms Mirela Pasic, who was here to attend the Advanced Nursing Specialty (Pain Management) course. The course was conducted in Singapore by SingHealth Alice Lee Institute of Advanced Nursing, Singapore General Hospital from 28 May - 10 June 2008.

We managed to ask Ms Mirela Pasic a few questions during her stay here:

Q1. Can you summarize what Advanced Nursing Specialty (Pain Management) means to you?
First, I must say thanks to the Government of Singapore for giving me a chance to participate in this course. Personally, it means a lot as I can apply the knowledge learnt to the hospital where I worked.

Q2. Where and how did you hear about this course?
The Croatian Ministry of Health sent an invitation to my Hospital - Children's Hospital Zagreb.

Q3. Have you ever been to Singapore prior to this course?
No, this is my first time in Singapore. I was impressed with the people's hospitality.

Q4. How do you feel about being the first participant from Croatia to attend a course under the SCP?
I am very excited to be the first to represent Croatia and I am trying to represent my country in the best possible way.

Q5. Has this programme helped you?
Yes, it did. I have learnt a lot of new things about pain management.

Q6. What have you learnt from the programme and how will you apply it to your organization back home?
With the help of my Head Nurse, I hope that we can put pain management on a next level in my hospital, to improve our work plan.

Q7. How can we improve the programme?
I work in a children's hospital so my first concern are children. Maybe there should be a class on how to manage a small child.

Q8. Did you find the social programme to the Singapore Zoological Gardens interesting?
The trip to the zoo was perfect and the whole group had a good time.

Q9. What other interesting places have you visited?
I was all around - Little China (Chinatown), Little India, Sentosa, Museums...

Q10. Will you be spreading the word about Singapore to your fellow countrymen?
Yes, I will and I have over 200 pictures taken in the day and night to show all the magic of Singapore.