Response to TODAY Online Forum Letter on "A misperception of BMT recruits?"

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National servicemen have unhindered access to medical care 

We refer to Dr Yeo Seow Woon's letter ""A misperception of BMT recruits?"" dated 30 April 2012 .

All National Servicemen, including recruits undergoing training at the Basic Military Training (BMT) Centre, have ready access to medical attention.

Our investigation and records show that Dr Yeo's son was not denied access to medical attention. The encounter mentioned by Dr Yeo was a  routine self-administered medical screening questionnaire to identify recruits with new or recent medical problems before they could proceed to the next phase of training. Recruits who answered ""no"" to all the questions would not need to see the Medical Officer for a medical  evaluation. Dr Yeo's son was initially unsure about one question in the questionnaire, but after clarification with the medic, he answered ""no"" to all the questions. The serviceman had misunderstood the clarification as him being denied access to the Medical Officer. 

Dr Yeo also mentioned that her son had coughing fits and an asthma attack and was not allowed to see the Medical Officer. This is inaccurate. There are no records of the serviceman having reported sick at the medical centre or indicating that he had wanted to report sick to his company instructors throughout his BMT. On clarification with the serviceman, he confirmed that he had not reported the onset of his new medical conditions to his commanders or Medical Officer as he had wanted to complete his BMT. 
 
We would also like to clarify that the "tekong cough" is a myth. While the increased physical stress may affect an individual's susceptibility to respiratory infections, the SAF's on-going active respiratory disease surveillance does not show an increased incidence of respiratory infections in our recruits. There are also preventive measures in place to mitigate the transmission of respiratory infections. More information on this topic could be found on NS Portal (iPrepNS) at www.ns.sg.

We would like to assure Dr Yeo that our Medical Officers and medics treat every serviceman with respect and empathy and our mission is to ensure that all servicemen who need medical attention receive the appropriate care and treatment before they are allowed to resume their military training.

For medical confidentiality reasons, we have contacted Dr Yeo and her son directly to clarify these issues. The Ministry of Defence and the Singapore Armed Forces are committed to look after the health and well-being of our soldiers

Lieutenant-Colonel (Dr) Lionel Cheng, 
Commander, Military Medicine Institute

 
MINDEF's reply was published as "National servicemen have unhindered access to medical care", TODAY Online, 07 May 12