Professor Ang Chong Lye, the Singapore General Hospital's (SGH) chief executive for nearly a decade, will step down from his post next month.

He will be passing the baton to Professor Kenneth Kwek, 51, who is currently his deputy at SGH.

Prof Kwek is also chief executive at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH), and will relinquish that position when he assumes his new role. Both hospitals are under the SingHealth group.

In a statement yesterday, group chief executive Ivy Ng thanked Prof Ang, 61, for his "sterling leadership".

"His strong sense of duty and deep engagement with staff has been key to SGH's success," she said, adding that Prof Ang will continue in his role as deputy group chief executive (clinical services and informatics) at SingHealth.

Prof Ang started out as an ophthalmologist at the Singapore National Eye Centre, where he later rose to the position of medical director. He was appointed SGH's chief executive in 2008.

His successor, Prof Kwek, trained in obstetrics and gynaecology, and has been at KKH for 30 years.

He headed the hospital's peripartum unit between 2005 and 2009. He is also an adjunct professor with the Duke-NUS Medical School and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore.

Linette Lai