Pritam Singh, WP members visit 216 Bedok Food Centre to support hawkers amid TB scare

SINGAPORE: Several members from the Workers’ Party, including MPs Pritam Singh (Aljunied) and Dennis Tan (Hougang), recently visited the Blk 216 Bedok Food Centre & Market to support the hawkers whose businesses have been affected by the tuberculosis cluster in Bedok.

The Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) announced on April 30 that mandatory tuberculosis screening would be carried out for tenants and workers of the market, Heartbeat@Bedok, and at the Singapore Pools Bedok, after investigations showed that there were 13 genetically similar cases across three clusters between January 2023 and February 2026.

Mr Singh wrote in a May 13 social media post that many residents living in the eastern part of Singapore, including Aljunied residents living in Bedok Reservoir and Bedok North, often go to Blk 216 Bedok Food Centre & Market.

He added, however, that “the news saw many members of the public avoiding the market and hawker centre, even though there was no instruction or guidance to indicate that it was unsafe to visit and to partake in some superb hawker fare, or to visit Bedok Central in general.”

To support the hawkers, the WP’s East Coast team, made up of former Non-constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong, Jasper Kuan, Paris V Parameswari, and Sufyan Mikhail Putra, were the first to go to the market, and Mr Singh and Mr Tan visited last week as well.

“I had lunch at the hawker centre today, and it was certainly good to see the public keeping calm and carrying on!” he also wrote.

The WP chief noted that the CDA had announced that during the screening, 473 individuals tested positive for TB. However, the vast majority of them are expected to have a latent TB infection (LTBI), which is not uncommon among Singaporeans. This means they do not have symptoms of the infection, are not infectious, and do not pose a public health risk.

The WP chief added that those who spent 96 hours in a year, which is equivalent to two hours per week or eight hours per month, at Blk 216 Bedok Food Centre & Market, Heartbeat@Bedok, or the Singapore Pools Bedok, should consider getting a free TB screening up to June 6 as a precautionary measure.

“You can also make your decision about voluntary screening, if it applies to you, over some coffee and curry puffs, nasi padang, fish ball noodles, or chee cheong fun –  all the hawker food my colleagues and I sampled (caveat – to my knowledge only) over the course of our visits in the past 10 days or so!” Mr Singh added. /TISG

Read also: Tan Kiat How urges public to visit Bedok hawker centre, says no TB among staff