Nurse’s family harassed by neighbour despite police reports

Singapore – A nurse shared a video of a neighbour constantly hurling vulgarities at his family members since May 2020.

The latest incident was posted on the nurse’s personal Instagram account “jibby4g” showing his child was afraid of the neighbour’s rude acts.

The nurse and his wife, who is also an essential service worker, underwent different mock and even disinfection spraying from their next-door neighbour whenever they returned home.

“I am called obai, kanina, virus, dirty family and virus family and was sprayed with Dettol. Just so sad. What has my family ever done to you that we deserve this treatment from you guys?” the nurse wrote in his post.

In the video, his daughter was seen defending herself from the disinfection solution by putting her hands up.

“What happened to the clap for frontliners and the song “home”? This is the reality frontliners are facing now,” he said.

The family had made several reports at the police station, especially after the disinfection spray got into his daughter’s face.

However, the police advised them to lodge a separate magistrate’s complaint as the police could not take action without a court order.

There have been several cases of medical staff facing discrimination after Covid-19 hit Singapore.

The Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU) constantly received reports from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTHS) staff mistreated by others.

Commuters on public transport would turn away, even tighten their masks, when they saw TTHS staff, reported Channel News Asia.

“While it is understandable that the pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, this does not mean that we can be rude and inconsiderate towards others,” said Ms K Thanaletchimi, the union president.

Phuong Le Ha is an intern at The Independent SG/TISG