SINGAPORE: Another 12,000 pulse oximeters will be distributed to migrant workers residing in dormitories, as part of new measures tapping on technology to beef up the health monitoring of these workers.
So far, about 8,000 of such medical equipment have been given out to migrant workers who tested positive for COVID-19, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo on Sunday (May 10).
READ: COVID-19: On-site care facilities at some dormitories, designated spaces for recovered workers
Pulse oximeters are used to monitor oxygen levels of those infected with COVID-19 and can help to detect early signs of deterioration in health.
The provision of pulse oximeters will also allow workers to proactively monitor their own health status and reach out for medical assistance if needed, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a separate press release.
Migrant workers residing in dormitories are already given thermometers. Explaining why pulse oximeters are also being issued, Mrs Teo pointed to one “important observation” in that many migrant workers experience “very mild symptoms or even no symptoms at all” even after being infected with COVID-19.
“In other words, they themselves may not be aware that something has happened and because they don’t feel unwell, they do not seek medical attention.
“As a result, even if they have already been infected, or they are still infectious and passing the virus to somebody else, they don’t know it,” the minister said.
In total, about 20,000 pulse oximeters will be made available to migrant workers living in purpose-built dormitories, factory-converted dormitories and temporary quarters within construction sites, she added.
READ: Situation at larger foreign worker dormitories stable, but COVID-19 picture in smaller dorms ‘mixed’: Josephine Teo
VIDEO CONSULTATIONS BETWEEN DOCTOR AND PATIENT
There are also plans to set up more tele-kiosks in “quite a large number” of dormitories, said Mrs Teo.
These kiosks facilitate video consultations with doctors and are connected to devices which can monitor vital signs, such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation and temperature.
They also ensure that migrant workers have round-the-clock access to a doctor, with medication being delivered when necessary.
Eight tele-kiosks have been installed in dormitories, said MOM in its press release.
Tele-consultations through mobile phones are also available at the migrant workers’ dormitories. Such video consultation services, which are provided by private healthcare providers listed in the Ministry of Health (MOH) regulatory sandbox, complement the on-site and mobile medical support by providing after-hours care.
Since the service started on Apr 25, about 400 of these video consultations between workers and doctors have been conducted, said MOM.
“We don’t want the workers (to) wait until they’re so unwell, to seek medical attention,” said Mrs Teo.
“We want them at the earliest sign to actually put up their hands to ask ‘Can I find out what’s happening to me?’”
Together with Singapore’s strategy in testing as part of its health surveillance, these new measures that tap on medical technologies will make up a “comprehensive health support plan”, said the minister.
“We are introducing new measures that will help us to look after the health conditions and to do the health surveillance of our migrant workers in a more comprehensive way,” said Mrs Teo.
“And we hope that by doing so, we will be able to help the individual worker prevent a recurrence if he has already been affected, or for those who have not been affected to prevent them from falling sick in the first place.”
PLAN FOR RECOVERY PHASE
The Manpower Minister was speaking to reporters after visiting JTC Space @ Tuas where a new medical post with a swab isolation facility has been set up. It also has telemedicine facilities, such as a tele-kiosk.
This new medical post – the fifth of its kind – takes up one floor of a vacant multi-storey carpark located in the industrial park. It will start operations on Monday.
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo at a tele-kiosk set up at JTC Space @ Tuas. (Photo: Singapore Ministry of Manpower)
The use of technology to monitor the health of migrant workers will be important as Singapore prepares to move into the next phase of its battle against the coronavirus outbreak in migrant worker dormitories, said Mrs Teo.
The Inter-agency Task Force had said it would focus on three phases to ensure the health and well-being of migrant workers residing in dormitories. The first included the roll-out of safe distancing measures at these dormitories and the second phase saw a medical support plan, with the necessary infrastructure and personnel, being put in place.
The third phase, dubbed the recovery phase, will see authorities working out ways to allow recovered workers to resume work safely, according to MOM’s press release.
An important aspect of this third phase will be on strengthening the health monitoring and surveillance of these workers who live in communal settings.
“That’s something we have to keep in mind that whenever you have a setting where large groups of people are living together communal style, you really have to find ways to strengthen the health monitoring and the health surveillance in order to detect infections,” said Mrs Teo.
Mrs Teo also noted various efforts being put together over the past weeks to tackle the surge in number of COVID-19 infections among the migrant worker community here.
This includes the deployment of 3,000 people from various ministries and the healthcare sector to look after the nearly 400,000 foreign workers, to help from non-governmental organisations.
Mrs Teo said she also wanted to say a “big thank you” to the migrant workers who have been “very cooperative” and “very open” in providing feedback so that improvements can be made.
“So all in all, you see that all of these efforts are coming together and over the last couple of weeks, we see that we are making steady progress,” she said.
“Having stabilised the situation as well as strengthen the medical support, we now need to plan for the next phase, which is about helping the workers to make a full recovery … and to facilitate the eventual return to work for these migrant workers.”
When that happens, the new measures tapping on medical technologies, such as tele-consultations, will be able to attend to the different needs of these workers, while ensuring that they continue to be taken care of in a sustainable manner, she added.
“Keep in mind that when the workers eventually return to work, their work hours are not likely to be the same for each and every one of them … Some of the workers may return to the dorm at a time when the medical outpost cannot remain open.
So we need to look at some of the more sustainable ways to continue to perform this health monitoring, which is a very important part of taking care of the migrant workers,” she said.
Additional reporting by Melissa Goh.
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