Singapore ― A member of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) took to social media to highlight that the military responded to his situation of testing positive to Covid-19 more efficiently than the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Redditor u/OxySempra posted his experience on the Singapore subreddit on Tuesday (Sept 28), giving a timeline of the events and how the different organisations handled them.
On Sept 21, the concerned individual was notified by his superiors that he was in close contact with a Covid-positive case and told to conduct a swab test at a SAF regional swab centre.
After his results came back positive, he was informed by MOH on Sept 24 that he was ineligible for home recovery as his mother has end-stage renal failure and was immunocompromised.
He was told to prepare necessities because someone would pick him up later that night or the following morning to be transferred to another facility.
When he did not hear back from MOH until the following day, the member called again on Sept 26.
He was then informed that he might be eligible for home recovery and was told to fill up the same application form he submitted a few days prior, which was earlier rejected.
He didn’t receive further feedback until Sept 28, when someone picked him up and checked him in at a facility.
“That is a total of six days upon testing positive had I been locked in with my mother, who is severely immunocompromised,” said the Redditor.
“And during the time I was locked in my room, I had no access to a doctor, nor do I have anyone I could contact aside from the MOH hotline that does not pick up.”
He shared resorting to Googling news articles and Reddit threads regarding his symptoms, such as loss of taste and smell.
The concerned individual also noted that none of his close contacts received a notification through their TraceTogether.
“I am talking about people I spend hours with in close proximity for days. Interpret that however you want.”
Meanwhile, he applauded the SAF for handling his situation well.
They were the first and fastest to inform him that he was a close contact, place him in isolation, schedule a swab test, inform him of the results and conduct contact tracing for those he was in contact with.
SAF also checked in on him and his family daily and offered support if he needed any.
“It’s crazy to think that the military is responding to this situation more effectively and better than the Ministry of Health,” said the individual.
With over 1,700 upvotes and 380 comments, Redditors agreed with the member’s statements.
“I can confirm that the military deals with the cases very well,” said Reddit user Doodle1090, sharing his experience.
Others highlighted a system already in place within the military that hasn’t been streamlined in MOH.
“Also, it’s much easier to handle when the whole unit is staying in one camp, and also when there is an existing command structure that SAF can build on,” said another Reddit user.
“In a unit, everyone knows who to report to for everything, and it’s easy to arrange for briefings to tell everyone the SOP. MOH has to build that structure from scratch.” /TISG
First hand experience on how MOH handled the recent covid cases.
byu/OxySempra insingapore
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