During 1952, Dr Haridas, Professor Monteiro, Professor of Clinical Medicine, and Dr G Keys Smith felt that there was a need for a Society to advance the knowledge and practice of clinical paediatrics, promote child health and to encourage the development of paediatrics as a profession. So on 1st August 1952 the Singapore Paediatric Society was founded. At that meeting 22 doctors were present and  by the end of 1952 there were 44 members and, by 1858, 61 members. Dr Smith wrote the constitution for the Society and became its first Secretary (1952-1953), with Dr. Haridas as the first President and Professor Monteiro as its second; Dr Smith followed then as President in 1954 and 1957. Dr. Haridas was the doyen

On return, such was the racism and paternalism of the colonial regime, he was placed in charge of the children’s wards but was only given a  junior  status.  He  continued  to  serve  children  throughout  the occupation under very difficult conditions only to find  discrimination again post-war. As mentioned earlier, the Asian doctors rebelled in 1947 and from that time onwards Asian doctors were starting to be appointed to senior positions. He was a quiet, dignified personality with immense experience of paediatrics. Professor Monteiro, as a general physician, had a special interest in paediatrics and was very supportive in the founding of the Society.  Dr. William Heng was the first Treasurer (1952-1953) and later President (1959). Dr. Heng was a general practitioner but had had  special training in paediatrics overseas and had a large paediatric practice. Another doctor with a large paediatric practice was Dr Foo Chee Guan, President in 1960. Dr. Haridas retired in 1954 and was replaced by Dr. Elaine Field in 1955, just before the opening of the Mistri Wing at the General Hospital. Dr. Field was President in 1956 and, thorough their teaching, both she, and Dr. Haridas, produced a whole generation of paediatricians in Singapore who later had distinguished careers.  Notable amongst these was Dr. Wong Hock Boon, who became in 1962 the first Professor of Paediatrics in the University and developed further the training of paediatricians.

One  major project of the Society was the organisation of the First Asian Regional Paediatric Congress in 1958. Dr. Haridas was  President of the Congress and Professor Monteiro and Dr Smith were Vice-Presidents.. The excellent scientific programme was mainly due to the excellent  planning of Dr. Elaine Field.  The Congress had 192 members, 71 coming from overseas, representing, apart from Singapore and Malaya, 17 countries.

As early as 1959, Professor Wong Hock Boon started the Journal of the Singapore Paediatric Society with the assistance especially of the late Dr William Heng and Dr Foo Chee Quan, private practitioner with an interest in paediatric practice.  Regionally, this is the first paediatric journal in areas where the medical schools was started by UK, ie. Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.  However, it was not the first paediatric journal in the region because the Indonesian Paediatric Journal and the Paediatric Journal of the Philippines had been in existence before 1959.  The Singapore Paediatric Journal has provided a forum where paediatricians not only from Singapore but also from the region had contributed and discussed important paediatric issues published in the journal.  To date it has been publishing continuously for a period of 44 years.