Singapore — WP’s Pritam Singh took to Facebook to address residents’ concerns over an increased risk of Covid-19 in their estate.
The MP shared that the former Bedok North Secondary School (BNSS) site in Eunos was activated as a regional screening centre under the charge of the Health Promotion Board (HPB) around 2 weeks ago.
Apart from carrying out daily swabbing, after 1pm, the centre is reserved to cater for vehicles conveying persons under quarantine. At another end of the centre, an area has been set aside to test individuals displaying symptoms of ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection).
For residents living at Jalan Damai in the Eunos ward of Aljunied GRC, in particular those at Blk 662-664, the activation of the screening centre has seen the HDB service roads near their blocks congested with vehicles and workers.
In addition, there is also the concern of many workers walking to and from the screening centre through the void decks the neighbouring blocks.
Mr Singh noted that while enforcement operations have been conducted against errant drivers, those were opportunistic and sporadic. There was also no measures in place to prevent the workers from crossing through the HDBs.
“I have visited the screening centre a few times now to talk with HPB officers and to see how the problem can be alleviated.” He mentioned in his Facebook post. Adding on that he and Mr Chin, an acquaintance from his National Service days and part of the HPB team in charge of all the 7 screening centres in the Eastern part of Singapore, are working to ease the concerns.
“In view of the feedback, small lorries have been diverted into the screening centre to park after embarking/disembarking workers from today.” He stated on Saturday (May 29).
The HPB is also looking to deploy more traffic marshalls to better control traffic while maintaining safety considerations for users of the screening centre, and in doing so, reducing the prospect of congestion and illegal parking at Blk 662-664.
They are also looking at other parking options within the BNSS site which require some site preparation, so as to contain activities within the screening centre as far as possible.
“To the residents of Jalan Damai, I know it has been a challenging two weeks so far, especially with many of you working from home.” he acknowledged, asking for residents’ understanding.
“The HPB team are doing their best to reduce inconvenience to residents”, he assured, adding on that residents in the area could contact him if they had feedback on the situation.
Denise Teh is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG