A father is making a desperate call for a liver donor for his eight-month-old daughter, who is fighting for her life at the National University Hospital’s (NUH’s) paediatric intensive care unit.

Zarouhi Singla was born with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease that can be deadly, her father, Sandeep Singla, told The Straits Times yesterday.

The 34-year-old donated part of his liver to her in an operation on Friday but the transplant failed and she is on life support.

Professor K. Prabhakaran, director of the paediatric organ transplant programme at NUH, said Zarouhi is very ill and unlikely to survive without a second transplant.

Biliary atresia is a rare progressive inflammatory disorder of the liver that affects one in every 15,000 infants, added Dr Prabhakaran. Its cause is not clear.

“At least 60 per cent of children with biliary atresia may develop liver failure that requires a liver transplant within the first two years of life,” he said.

Mr Sandeep, a general manager for Shell, and his wife, Neha Wilson, are Indian nationals who have lived in Singapore for about 18 months.

Zarouhi, born here, has spent about five months in and out of hospital, said Mr Sandeep.

After the failed transplant attempt, he is worried that his only child does not have long to live.

While Ms Wilson is being assessed to see if she is a suitable donor, the couple are looking for a standby donor in the event that she is not eligible, Mr Sandeep said.

“We wanted to reach out to the public because time is not on our side.”

He added that he would cover the medical costs of the potential donor, who must be healthy and match Zarouhi’s blood type of O positive.

Those who meet the criteria and wish to be considered as a donor can contact him at sandeepsingla@hotmail.com.

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The authorities are looking at whether to replace old MRT trains, instead of refurbishing them as originally planned.

This comes as the Government gets ready to assume ownership of all trains from SMRT and examines what to do with the ageing ones.

In 2014, Singapore Rail Engineering , SMRT’s engineering services division, inked a deal with Japan’s Toshiba to replace motors on 66 of its oldest trains.

It recently finished doing so for one train.

But now, with SMRT and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) agreeing to shift to a new rail financing framework – in which the Government assumes ownership of all operating assets, including trains – the refurbishment works have been halted.

An LTA spokesman said, under the new framework, the authority will also be responsible for the expansion, replacement and refurbishment of rail operating assets.

“As such, LTA is reviewing what the best treatment for older trains is – whether to refurbish them or replace them with new trains, to strike a good balance between cost effectiveness, rail reliability and train availability,” she added.

At SMRT’s first-quarter financial results briefing on Monday, its chief financial officer Manfred Seah said Singapore Rail Engineering had incurred an operating loss of $2.7 million.

This was “due mainly to Singapore Rail Engineering’s provision for costs associated with the suspension of works relating to the end-of-life refurbishment of trains pending a decision by the authorities”.

It is understood that SMRT’s losses arose because it had already ordered parts for the refurbishment.

Observers said the refurbishment process will allow SMRT to gain more in-depth engineering knowledge.

A source said the first train took almost a year to refurbish but subsequent trains will be completed more speedily because the engineering staff “already know what to do” after the first project.

Since the two massive breakdowns in December 2011, SMRT has put in motion plans to fix and upgrade its trains and systems.

A large part of the plans involves replacing key parts such as propulsion systems and air compressors on 19 second-generation trains by this year, and 66 first-generation trains by 2019.

SMRT had high hopes for the new Toshiba train motors. It said the permanent magnet synchronous motors were up to 30 per cent more energy-efficient and 12 per cent quieter. They were also less costly to maintain as they have fewer parts.

They cost more to buy but SMRT said, from a life-cycle perspective, they are worth it.

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Motorists using mobile phones while driving, lorry drivers breaking speed limits and failing to keep left and motorcyclists weaving across lanes recklessly – Traffic Police’s latest enforcers have been catching them all.

A video posted on Use Your RoadSense Facebook page on Monday showed footage of TP’s Special Operations Team (SOT) on their black “stealth bikes” clamping down on errant drivers, including a motorcyclist who made a U-turn against the direction of traffic and them speeding off at 160kmh.

The two-minute clip has since racked up more than 330,000 views and more than 7,600 shares.

“These ‘men in black’ look out for common traffic offences, such as driving while using the (mobile phone), and ensure that motorists are ever-alert on the roads – a timely reminder not to #PokemonGo and drive,” the post said, referencing the popular Pokemon Go mobile game, in which players catch virtual creatures using their mobile devices.

The Singapore Police Force, which shared the video on its Facebook page, said the traffic situation continues to show improvements in various areas but a minority of road users endanger the lives of others.

It added: “The TP will continue to take strict enforcement against such errant motorists even as we focus on education and enforcement efforts; reminding them that all road users have a role to play in keeping our roads safe.”

Also called covert officers, the TP’s stealth bikers have been on the roads since June.

Clad in black jackets, the officers ride black 900cc motorcycles that are more manoeuvrable and have proven effective in curbing errant motorcyclists.

TP commander Sam Tee told The Straits Times that it was not easy for officers to go after motorcyclists in unmarked cars, as they can lose sight of them in heavy traffic.

The “stealth bikes”, on the other hand, are much more manoeuvrable.

TP statistics show that, last year, 4,875 motorcyclists and pillion riders were injured, a 5 per cent rise from 2014. This group also accounted for almost half of all road deaths last year – 72 out of a total of 152.

In their first month of operations, TP’s stealth officers detected more than 700 violations.

The SOT’s officer commanding, Assistant Superintendent Firdous Haniff, 30, said the unmarked motorbikes have proven effective, adding that foreign police forces, such as those in Australia, employ similar tactics.

Additional reporting by Danson Cheong

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