SINGAPORE – In a video posted on EverydaySG on Facebook on May 13, (Thurs) a patient walked down the hospital hallway to the applause of nurses with a sign saying, “Finally, I’m COVID-FREE!”
The original video was uploaded by TikTok user @gabriellemonique06. It was also captioned, ‘Ward 56 is happy to discharge you [heart emoji]’ as the unnamed patient made his way out with his travel case in the Changi General Hospital.
In the video one can see at least five nurses cheering him on as he walked down the hall, with one nurse in the back showing extreme happiness and she jumped up and down while enthusiastically clapping her hands above her head.
The video also has Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” playing in the background, a celebratory song that was probably just as uplifting for all of the nursing and hospital staff as it was for the discharged patient. And an unseen staff member also tells him “Take care ah” as he walks past, to which he eagerly nods his head.
Since these front liners work day and night to care for all the Covid-positive patients, putting their lives on the line while making sure that these patients can make it back home to their families, even one recovered patient must feel like a huge victory. And given that May is National Nurses month, it just makes it that much sweeter.
As of May 14 at 11:05 GMT, there are 26,098 coronavirus cases in Singapore, and so far 4,809 have recovered. With a marked increase of positive cases over the past few weeks, the fact that there has also been a high number of patients being discharged is promising.
According to Mothership.sg, as many as 958 patients were released in a single day, making it the highest number of discharged patients on the same day. Meanwhile, there have only been 21 deaths in Singapore as well, which could be a testament to the medical care provided to patients.
With the numbers of positive coronavirus patients still on the rise, the government is continuously scrambling to put more safety measures in place to slow the spread of this fatal disease. In the meantime, they will celebrate the small victories, in any way they can. /TISG