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Mr Lee Seck Kay believes that"... doctors need to care about their looks; never mind if they are not handsome, but at least they should not give the impression that they are lackadaisical. It is a moral responsibility that many doctors tend to neglect, much to their detriment." (emphasis mine)Mr Anthony Goh's contribution is:"The doctor's personality and the way he conducts himself speak better than looks."Mr Javern Sim shares his experience and wisdom thus:"I have occasionally come across doctors who are more interested in getting thediagnosis and prescription of medicine over and done with, rather thancommunicating properly with their patients.It is imperative for doctors to be skilful not only on the treatment table, but also in terms of patient management and communication."

I would have thought that making the correct diagnosis and prescribing the appropriate medicine and letting the patient know the two constituted patient management and communication.

Why do the writers seem more hung up on how the doctors look or conduct themselves than on the quality of the medical care or advice, as if the clinical encounter was more a date than a consultation? My suspicion is that lacking the means or inclination to assess the quality of care, patients instead base their judgement of a doctor on things they can assess. It's a natural thing to do - it makes us feel we have control over the situation - but then how a doctor looks or behaves towards you may have very little correlation with the quality of care he provides. If patients choose to judge doctors on style than substance, then perhaps that what they will get.The irony, of course, is that doctors too sometimes judge patients by their appearances...

1. One cannot criticise if one has not read the articleMr Singh said that between the reporter (Ms Sim) and himself, they had received 7 email complaints, with many more criticisms online. However, he said that most of these complaints had come from people who were reacting solely to the front page without reading the article. Mr Singh said that he had expected most intelligent and educated Singaporeans to have read the article before jumping the gun to judge TNP for their article.

2. "Are Singaporeans ready for a gay MP?" was the angle TNP chose to take because they thought it was an important issue concerning votersEven though the PAP said that Dr Wijeysingha's sexual orientation was not an issue for them, TNP felt that it was an issue for Singaporean voters. They therefore went out to poll Singaporeans about whether they were ready for a gay MP. 76% of the Singaporeans polled said that they would be fine with a gay MP. This, Mr Singh said, actually helps SDP more than the PAP, and therefore he felt that it was quite "ballsy" of TNP to have taken this angle. However, TNP only polled approx. 130 (I forget the real number) people and so it would not have been statistically correct for the headline to say "Singaporeans are ready for a gay MP". (This was in response to my question about why the headline could not have reflected the poll.) He also said that TNP decided to do a poll about lowering the age of consent in Singapore because it was an issue raised in the video (albeit not by Dr Wijeysingha) and they felt that it was relevant to Singaporeans. 

3. It is only a smear campaign if what the PAP say about Vincent Wijeysingha is untrue Mr Singh said that it would only be accurate to say that the PAP has launched a "smear campaign" against Dr Wijeysingha if what they are saying is untrue. However, what the PAP has said is true, and so it cannot be labelled a "smear campaign".He said that he had asked the SDP if they had attempted to suppress the video in question, and that the SDP said yes. So the PAP hadn't been "smearing" the SDP by implying they were trying to suppress the video, because they were