External Resources

Celebrating 70 Years of Medical Social Work in Singapore

Medical social services were first introduced in Singapore in 1949 with the establishment of an Almoner’s Department at Singapore General Hospital (formerly known as Outram Road General Hospital). The Almoners were the forerunners of today’s medical social workers (MSWs). They presided over the administration of charitable funds to ensure fair distribution of financial aid to needy patients and their dependents. Since then, the profession has evolved to respond to the nation’s rapidly changing medical and social needs.

For the milestones of medical social services in Singapore through the ages, you may refer to the MSW Anniversary Video.

Oral History of Pioneer Social Workers of Singapore

The Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore has over the years conducted a series of interviews with many prominent leaders in Singapore. Among them are our pioneer social workers of whom we are all very proud. They include the former President  Mr SR Nathan, Ms Daisy Vaithilingam, Mrs Jean Marshall, Mrs Ann Wee, Mrs Chen Swee Soo, Mrs Joyce Fung, Dr Myrna Blake, Mrs Leaena Tambyah, Ms Cecilia Nayar, Ms Malini Menon, Ms Nirmala Gopiendran, Mrs Wong-Ng Cher Meng and many more. You may listen to their interviews by clicking on the link below and keying in his/her name in the Search box. Enjoy!

http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/oral_history_interviews/

Office of the Director-General of Social Welfare, Ministry of Social and Family Development

Social Insights: Letters by DGSW

This is a series of letters written by the Director-General of Social Welfare, Ms Ang Bee Lian. She writes these letters to Social  Workers and Service Practitioners with the aim of educating them on current issues related to their work Singapore. They cover topics ranging from the fundamentals of Social Work to practice issues in Social Work.

Please click here to read the letters.

Ethical Social Work

"Whether we are members of SASW or not, as social workers, we are bound professionally to practise ethically and consider the ethical dimensions in the work we do. As part of deepening the awareness of ethical issues, the MSF Office of the Director-General of Social Welfare has convened a workgroup of social workers from several social service agencies. The team sends out a series of monthly emails that describes ethical scenarios accompanied by commentaries. " Ms Ang Bee Lian - Director-General of Social Welfare, MSF.

Please click here to read the scenarios and commentaries and participate in a quiz on 'Ethical Issues for Social Workers'.