When Covid-19 tore through Singapore’s migrant worker population earlier this year, it highlighted how their medical facilities may not be adequate to screen them for illnesses early.
Now that we’ve managed to clear most dormitories of the virus, our migrant workers still have to go for regular testing to make sure they’re not infected and don’t spread it to other workers.
However, it might be difficult for them to seek medical attention in the daytime, when many of them are working.
Thus, night clinics have been set up for the workers to get better access to medical help.
According to a press release from Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Friday (9 Oct), the night clinics are located at 3 Regional Medical Centres (RMCs).
For convenient access, they’re located in Singapore’s north, east and west, and have been operational since 1 Oct.
They’ll be open until 9.30pm — an extension of their normal daytime hours.
To make it even easier for the migrant workers, transport will be arranged for those living in dorms to attend the night clinics.
Their employers or dorm operators can just make a booking through an agent in charge of the dorm’s region.
In this way, it’s hoped that the migrant workers will learn to seek medical attention if they need it, which is the correct behavior they need to have to prevent spread of viruses.
The night clinics are an initiative of the Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) Group, a new division of the MOM responsible for the health of migrant workers.
It aims to provide migrant workers with greater accessibility to healthcare, and in turn greater convenience for employers.
Thus, it will evaluate how the night clinics do, and determine whether they should continue the initiative, or even expand it.
Besides the 3 RMCs with night clinics, there are 10 other RMCs and on-site medical centres that provide care akin to those of general practitioners.
This includes simple acute and chronic care management, as well as mental health care, MOM said.
These services are complemented by mobile clinical teams, which will be activated in response to public health threats like an emerging cluster.
Telemedicine is also offered 24 hours a day.
With these initiatives, it’ll be very convenient for migrant workers to seek medical help and no excuse for anybody to work while sick.
The ultimate aim, of course. is to stop any potential Covid-19 spread early by identifying migrant workers with symptoms.
However, if the pandemic allows the health of our migrant workers to take centre stage, that’s actually a positive thing. Let’s hope our migrant workers will no longer have to wait for medical treatment again.
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Featured images courtesy of Singapore Ministry of Manpower.
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