Adj. A/Prof Sujith Indeewara Wijerathne
Head, Division of General Surgery
Head (Designate), Department of General Surgery
Consultant (Surgical Services, General Surgery, Thyroid & Endocrine Surgery, Hernia Surgery)
"The work culture at Alex is different from other places, where we can communicate freely with each other without rigid boundaries. We are like one family, and a lot of support is given to one another. Even as we expand as an institution and manpower, we have not lost any of the friendships forged."
Ever since I was young, I wanted to explore a different occupation from that of my father, and Medicine was the field I was interested in. The reason why I decided to pursue General Surgery instead of General Medicine was due to the hands-on nature of the role, as well as the job satisfaction in seeing my patients get better. For instance, when patients come in for hernia repairs, we will do a minimally invasive keyhole surgery, and the patients typically get discharged on the same day and back to their routine lifestyle on the same day. Being able to help resolve their problems and seeing them return home in a better state brings me joy.
As a surgeon, most of my work revolves around clinical duties. My day will start off with early morning meetings, followed by ward rounds and then clinics, endoscopy, or operating theatre sessions. I will then finish my clinical work and attend other meetings throughout the day. At the end of the day, I will set aside time to clear my emails. Apart from clinical duties, I am also heavily involved in administrative education and research, where I will teach and educate our residents, medical undergraduate students, and clinical fellows.
From the portfolios that I hold, one of the most important ones that helped build myself to where I am is my role at the Clinical Services Planning Office (CSPO) under Medical Affairs. As part of the CSPO, I lead the Surgical Services planning and am also the Patient Safety Officer (PSO) for the Surgical Services, with the aim of developing the surgical services and enhancing the culture of receptivity to patient safety at Alex.
There are a lot of opportunities at Alexandra Hospital to develop in other portfolios, especially with the upcoming expansion to our Integrated General Hospital (IGH). When I first joined Alex 5 years back when it first started, I saw the opportunity to grow with the hospital, and I am heartened to be able to be involved with the transformation of Alex. I recently completed an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to further enhance my administrative skills so that I would be able to contribute more meaningfully to the developments and expansions at Alex."