Trust in Singapore
I am Singaporean, retired and presently living in Taipei. Having read Nigel Li’s article in the Taipei Times (“Tips from Singapore’s virus fears,” Feb. 19, page 8), I would like to respond with the following quotations from renowned experts and specialists.
Nigel must have missed the news regarding WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who on Feb. 17 said that he spoke with Singaporean Minister of Health Gan Kim Yong (顏金勇) and praised Singapore’s response, saying: “We are very impressed with the efforts they are making to find every case, follow up with contacts and stop transmission,” and “Singapore is leaving no stone unturned, testing every case of influenza-like illness and pneumonia.”
Stephen Dziedzic, a journalist in Singapore, wrote the following in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s The Strategist Web site regarding the responses in Southeast Asian countries to the outbreak: “When the epidemic first hit, the vast machine of Singapore’s public service roared smoothly into life, and it’s still running at full throttle”; “Even if the bout of panic buying suggests the city-state is slightly more brittle than portrayed in national mythologies, this crisis has still been a powerful reminder of Singapore’s formidable capacities.”
A recent study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported that Singapore’s approach to the coronavirus outbreak is the “gold standard” for case detection and should be used as a benchmark for other countries. “Singapore is historically known for exceptionally sensitive detection of cases, for example in SARS, and has had extremely detailed case reporting during the COVID-19 outbreak,” it said.
Having experienced how Singapore developed in the past 55 years, we Singaporeans have full trust in our government even without the praises from the mentioned renowned experts and specialists.
Ho Wai Lun
Taipei
More communication needed
With the spread of COVID-19 causing panic over the availability of masks, the Central Epidemic Command Center announced on Feb. 6 that it was to implement a real-name purchasing system. As the new government policy was rolled out, the 6,005 National Health Insurance (NHI)-contracted drugstores and pharmacies around the nation were tasked with conforming to the mask quotas, adding to the burden of their normal everyday routine, and the same was even more so for the independent drugstores.
The vast majority of NHI-contracted stores, however, have been quite happy to fall in line and do their bit for the good of the country. Since the implementation of that policy, with the exception of a few unavoidable instances, things have proceeded without incident. People are not entirely happy with the situation, but they find it acceptable, and are gradually getting used to it.
Then, on top of the mask quotas, the contracted pharmacies were roped into stocking alcohol disinfectant as part of the government’s anti-epidemic drive. This was followed by an announcement by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Monday that, with the increased production of masks, people could, as of Thursday, purchase four masks for each child, and each contracted pharmacy was to receive 400 adult masks, up from the previous quota of 200. All of this further added to the work of the drugstore staff.
These policy revisions were all made without the prior consultation with or notification to pharmacists who, like members of the public, only found out about them in the media.
As a result, the Taiwan Pharmacist Association’s telephones have been ringing constantly as association members try to find out what is going on, while community pharmacies have been inundated with questions about alcohol disinfectant.
Since the announcements are always made before the actual products are distributed to the stores, however, the exchange between the pharmacy staff and customers has followed the same pattern, all day long, ad infinitum: “Do you have the alcohol disinfectant?” “No.” “It said in the news that you do.” “We haven’t got it yet.” “Are you sure you don’t have any?” “Yes, I’m positive.”
It is only right that officially accredited pharmacists in community drugstores comply fully with government anti-epidemic efforts when the nation is under siege, but it would be nice if the authorities would show a little more respect and kindness to the pharmacists on the front line prior to making new policy announcements. It would just make things easier for all concerned.
Liu Yu-chi
Taichung
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