‘Non-stop religious chant and song on loop at hospital ward’ — SG patient warded for 7 days with her baby complains, ‘I don’t know how long I can tahan this!’

SINGAPORE: “I was immediately greeted with a religious chant on loop coming from one of the neighbouring beds,” wrote one Singaporean during the start of her week-long stay at a Singapore hospital with her baby, which turned into a battle of nerves—thanks to a religious soundtrack that just wouldn’t quit.

“I don’t know how long I can tahan this!” she added on the r/askSingapore subreddit, expressing her frustration after, initially, nurses intervened and got the patient to stop, but the peace and quiet didn’t last for long. “About 2 hours later, it started again, but this time it was religious songs on loop… I’m slowly losing my sanity,” she complained.

The mother, unwilling to confront the other patient for fear of retaliation against her baby if she’s away from her bed, turned to the night-shift nurse, but the nurse’s response was, “Parents have a right to play music on a speaker in a shared space, but I can upgrade your space if you cannot take it.” She was told that if she didn’t like it, she could pay for a private ward—essentially, suffer or shell out.

So it seems that she chose to give them a taste of their own medicine disguised as a holiday cheer: “I’m playing Christmas music to drown out the chant on loop. I’m doing this for my mental health,” she explained, and with that, the public ward became a passive-aggressive sonic battleground of faith and festive jingles.

“For a lot of older folks, religion is all they have left…”

While the issue sparked debate, many Singaporeans sympathised. One commenter noted their manager also had a similar experience: “They would put their religious songs on non-stop, as if they were doing their last rites.”

Others offered a deeper view: “For a lot of older folks, religion is all they have left… Their kids have all grown up, and the parents are no longer working cos retired, so they are only left with their religious chants and songs.”

A nurse chimed in from the frontline: “It’s gotten to the point that most of us nurses just treat it as background noise… But occasionally… we can still hear it playing back in our heads while showering.”

Still, some Redditors took a harder stance: “We now have laws to prevent people from disturbing others with their phone in public transport… so why not hospitals too?”

“Don’t be so entitled if you refused to upgrade…”

There were also plenty of practical suggestions: Request the hospital to enforce headphone use or escalate to patient care services.

“It is criminal for hospitals to ask you to upgrade, and you can sue them if you have the means,” one wrote, but another countered that comment with, “Don’t be so entitled if you refused to upgrade. The nurse stepped in and asked the patient to stop once, and nurses are affected by such things too, but they tolerate it anyway on a daily basis, so be thankful they stepped in for you.”

He also advised, “Don’t expect others to fight your battles for you. Get your family to talk to that patient instead, rather than inconveniencing the nurses,” but warned that, “You can play your own music to drown their music, but then it would make you just as inconsiderate as that patient. So you’ll become as much of a jerk as the same jerk that you are complaining about.”

In the end, the moral of the story is this: Hospitals may offer medical relief, but for mental peace, it might just cost you a private room upgrade, if you really cannot tahan the noise any longer.

Read related: ‘Cannot tahan! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Whole day, non-stop!’ — HDB flat resident working night shifts complains about pickleball noise disrupting her morning sleep