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Professor YEOH Eng Kiong, Director of the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care (JCSPHPC) of the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), presented in the Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professor Public Lecture last Friday (24 November). He advocated that the primary goal of end-of-life care is ‘healing’, which is to relieve physical and psychological suffering of patients. The role of health professionals in the ‘healing’ process is to be the partner with the patient, for which they need narrative in addition to clinical competence.

Professor YEOH Eng Kiong is the Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professor of this year. He presented in the distinguished public lecture on “Humanness and Healing in End-of-life Care: Groundings for Morality of Health Systems”. Over 200 guests, including representatives of the Mok Hing Yiu Charitable Foundation, distinguished guests from the medical field, CUHK alumni, staff and students, attended the event.

In the lecture, Professor YEOH shared his insights on the subject of “end-of-life care”. He affirmed that, ‘When cure is not possible, “healing” is always achievable and should be a moral compass for health systems in the goals of care for every person suffering from any illness. The role of health professionals in each unique “healing” process is to be an active partner with the person, for which the health professional needs narrative in addition to clinical competence. The need for “healing” arising from the illness experience which assaults the person’s humanness is the groundings of morality for those who profess to heal and for those who profess to provide the capacity for healing in health system.’

About the Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professorship Scheme

The Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professorship Scheme was established by CUHK in memory of the late Dr. Mok Hing Yiu with a generous donation from the Mok family. The aim of the scheme is to advance teaching, research and academic development of CUHK. Under the scheme, one widely acclaimed scholar will be invited on an annual basis, and will participate in teaching, scholastic exchange and to deliver a professorial public lecture to inspire staff, students and alumni of CUHK, professional groups and the general public. Previous Mok Hing Yiu Visiting Professors include Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology of the University of Oxford; Professor Sir John Bell, FRS, Regius Professor of Medicine of the University of Oxford; Professor David Wang Der-wei, Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature of Harvard University, and The Rt Hon Dame Elish Angiolini, DBE QC, Principal of St Hugh’s College of the University of Oxford.

About the Speaker

Professor YEOH Eng Kiong, Professor of Public Health, Director of JCSPHPC and also Head of Division of Health System, Policy and Management at the JCSPHPC. His research is in health systems, services and policies with an interest in applying systems thinking in studying how the complex components of health systems interact and interrelate to improve health. One current research uses methods in system science for integration of health and social care for the elderly population and he has recently completed a study commissioned by Health and Medical Research Fund on end-of-life care. He leads in the Asia Pacific Network for Health Systems Strengthening in knowledge transfer to enable strengthening of health systems, and is a member of the International Advisory Board of the National University of Singapore Initiative to improve health in Asia.

Prior to joining CUHK, Professor YEOH was Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) between 1999 and 2004. Before entering the government, he served as head and the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority since 1990, with the responsibility of the management and transformation of the public hospital system. He was also President of the International Hospital Federation from 2001 to 2003 and was awarded the Hospital Management Asia Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

As a clinician, he pioneered public health programmes in the prevention of Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS. He was awarded JP in 1993, OBE in 1997 and GBS in 2005 by the Hong Kong Government in recognition of his public service.