Emeritus Professor Ernest Steven Monteiro | Singapore General Hospital

CBE, LMS, MD (Malaya), FRCP (London), FRCP (Glasgow), DCH (London), FRSH (England), FRFPS, AM (Singapore), BBM, PJG

21 December 1904 to 2 March 1989

Professor Monteiro graduated from the King Edward VII College of Medicine in 1929. He received the Gold Medal for best All-Round Performance.

He joined the Straits Settlements Medical Services as Assistant Medical Officer (the highest appointment then for local graduates). At the General Hospital, he was a House Physician to Professor Richard Brunel Hawes.

1946

1940 Queen’s Scholar, for postgraduate training in the United Kingdom (UK) but the outbreak of World War II delayed his departure. In 1946, Prof Monteiro proceeded to the UK for postgraduate medical studies.

1937

First major discovery made when he investigated cardiac (wet) beriberi among impoverished Chinese dockworkers who subsisted on highly polished white rice. He injected intravenously vitamin B1 into his first patient who made a quick and dramatic recovery.

1942

During the war, there was a severe shortage of anti-Diphtheria serum. With ingenuity, Prof Monteiro injected filtered toxin from the bacterial cultures into the jugular veins of some goats and bled them 3 weeks later to obtain the serum which he froze and used successfully to combat the epidemic that was spreading throughout Syonan-to (as Singapore was known during the Japanese Occupation).

Soon after WWII, common infectious diseases like Diphtheria took a heavy toll on lives of the children of Singapore. Prof Monteiro had fully expected that the scheme of inoculating pre-school and school children with anti-Diphtheria toxoid by the Singapore Municipality Health Department would work. However, the scheme was only a voluntary one, it did not achieve its desired effects.

Prof Monteiro insisted on making anti-Diphtheria inoculation compulsory with the force of the law in a joint meeting with the Public Health officials of both Singapore and the Federation of Malaya.

Prof Monteiro succeeded in making anti-Diphtheria inoculation a legal requirement in Singapore.

1958

Another major pioneering medical achievement was his decision to use the untested oral Sabin vaccine on a massive scale to combat the acute anterior poliomyelitis outbreak in Singapore.

A quarter million children were immunised and the epidemic was brought to an end.

More information about MONTEIRO, Ernest Steven (Prof)

Acronym	Term
CBE	Commander of the British Empire (in 1957)
LMS	Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery
MD	Doctor of Medicine (Malaya)
FRCP	Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) & (Glasgow)
DCH	Diploma in Child Health (London)
FRSH	Fellow of the Royal Society of Health (England)
AM	Ambassador to Cambodia, USA and Brazil (in 1965 - 1977)
FRFPS	Fellowship of the Royal Faculty of Physicians & Surgeons
BBM	Bintang Bakti Masyarakat or Public Service Star (in 1963)
PJG	Pingat Jasa Gemilang or Meritorious Service Medal (in 1968)