• Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

      The severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is caused by a novel coronavirus, which became known as the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). It is a highly contagious and potentially fatal respiratory disease that is spread mainly through the respiratory secretions ...

    • Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, 2003

      The 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) apparently started in Foshan in Guangdong, China, with the first case being seen on 16 November 2002. From there it spread through China and worldwide as far as Canada. The outbreak officially ended ...

    • St John’s Island quarantine station

      The influx of immigrants to Singapore in the 19th century brought various communicable diseases, such as smallpox, leprosy and cholera to the island. Health inspections and regulations became increasingly important in order to control the spread of such diseases ...

    • The Quarantine Ordinance of 1868

      Quarantine was formally introduced as a public health control measure in Singapore in 1868. It was an important method of disease control before the widespread adoption of vaccination and antimicrobial therapy. As a cosmopolitan port settlement, Singapore was particularly ...

    • Singapore’s first heart transplant

      On 6 July 1990, a team of doctors at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), led by Dr Tong Ming Chuan, performed the first heart transplant in Singapore. The donor heart was from Ong Soon, a 41-year-old construction worker, who died in an industrial accident. The ...

    • National AIDS Control Programme

      The National AIDS Control Programme is an action plan for protecting against and preventing the spread of HIV infection and AIDS in the country. It was formulated by the Advisory Committee on AIDS formed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 1985, soon after the first ...

    • Ong Poh Lim

      Ong Poh Lim (b. 1923, Kuching, Sarawak–d. 17 April 2003, Singapore) was one of the greatest badminton players of the late 1940s and ’50s. A versatile player with an aggressive game, Ong won numerous singles and doubles titles, including the Singapore, Malayan, ...

    • Communicable Disease Centre

      The Communicable Disease Centre is the national centre for the management of communicable and infectious diseases. It is also one of Singapore’s oldest hospitals. It began in 1907 as a quarantine camp for patients with infectious diseases. Between 1907 and 1931, ...

    • Hand Foot Mouth Disease (HFMD)

      Hand Foot Mouth Disease (HFMD) is an infectious disease caused by intestinal viruses, the most common being the Coxsackie virus Enterovirus 71. The symptoms of HFMD include fever, sore throat and runny nose, rash on the hands, feet and buttocks, mouth ulcers, lack ...

    • World's first separation of adult Siamese twins in Singapore

      Iranian twin sisters, Laleh and Ladan Bijani, were the world’s first adult Siamese twins to undergo surgical separation. The 52-hour marathon operation began on 6 July 2003 at Raffles Hospital in Singapore. However, 29-year-old twins, who were born conjoined at ...

    • Church of Saints Peter & Paul

      The Church of Saints Peter & Paul is located at 225A Queen Street. Built in 1870, the church is historically associated with the growth of the Chinese Catholic community in Singapore. The church building was gazetted a national monument in 2003.

    • Singapore League (S. League)

      The Singapore League (S.League) is a professional football league and represents the highest level of domestic football competition in Singapore. It was officially launched in 1996 with eight local teams contesting in the inaugural season. The league accepted its ...

    • Reverse bungee jumping

      Singapore's first reverse bungee jump ride literally got off the ground at Clarke Quay on 19 November 2003. Unlike the conventional bungee jump, where thrill seekers leap off a bridge while tied to a bungee cord, riders of the reverse bungee jump are catapulted ...

    • Tiong Bahru

      An estate with architectural, cultural and historic significance, Tiong Bahru was developed in the 1920s as Singapore’s first public housing estate by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), the colonial predecessor of the Housing Development Board. In 2003, 20 ...

    • Ong Keng Sen

      Ong Keng Sen (b. 1964, Singapore–), the critically acclaimed artistic director of TheatreWorks, a local theatre company, is best known for his intercultural Shakespeare-inspired trilogy of works – Lear, Desdemona and Search: Hamlet. He was the artistic director ...

    • Tan Hwee Hwee

      Tan Hwee Hwee (b. 1974, Singapore–) was the recipient of the National Arts Council’s (NAC) Young Artist Award in 2003. She is the author of Foreign Bodies (1997) and Mammon Inc. (2001), which won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2004. Her works have been published ...

    • Yeng Pway Ngon

      Yeng Pway Ngon (b. 26 January 1947, Singapore–d. 10 January 2021, Singapore) was a well-known poet, novelist and critic in the Chinese literary scene in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. A prolific writer, Yeng’s works have been translated into English, ...

    • Development Bank of Singapore

      The Development Bank of Singapore Ltd (DBS) was established on 16 July 1968 as a public limited company to take over the industrial financing responsibilities of the Economic Development Board (EDB) and began operations on 1 September 1968. Its main function upon ...

    • Collision between RSS Courageous and ANL Indonesia

      On 3 January 2003 at about 11.35 pm, a patrol vessel commissioned by the Republic of Singapore Navy, the RSS Courageous, collided with a cargo ship, the ANL Indonesia, along the eastern Singapore Straits near Horsburgh Lighthouse (on the island of Pedra Branca). ...

    • Felix Cheong

      Felix Cheong Seng Fei (b. 1965, Singapore–) is a poet and recipient of the National Arts Council Young Artist Award for Literature in 2000. He has published three volumes of poetry: Temptation and Other Poems (1998), I Watch the Stars Go Out (1999) and Broken by ...

       

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