Crowds thin out as visitor ban kicks in at hospitals
Crowds were seen at several local hospitals yesterday, the first day of the barring of visits to hospital wards islandwide, but most of the people were there for outpatient treatment.
The Straits Times saw only a few individuals at the ward registration counters of Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and KK Women's and Children's Hospital.
Visits to wards are not allowed until Aug 18 to stem further Covid-19 transmission after clusters involving staff and patients emerged at Changi General Hospital and Yishun Community Hospital.
SGH has a safe management council that conducts regular checks to ensure safe management measures within the campus are followed.
Earlier this week, a fully vaccinated staff member tested positive for Covid-19 but did not have any interaction with patients when last at work, said Associate Professor Ruban Poopalalingam, chairman of SGH's medical board.
He said that the staff member was a household contact of an infected person.
TTSH said yesterday it has communicated the change in visiting policy to all its patients and their families. "We will reiterate the importance of this change in policy at our counters and seek our visitors' cooperation to keep our patients and staff safe," said a spokesman for the hospital.
Following the restrictions, four patient groups are exempted on a case-by-case basis from the rules barring visitors. They include patients who are very ill, babies or children, and mothers due to give birth or who have given birth.
Patients who require additional support from caregivers will also be exempted, but only one visitor is allowed each day for no more than 30 minutes at the patient's bedside.
These visitors include those helping patients who have mental incapacities and family members undergoing caregiver training.
Visitors who need to stay longer for reasons such as caregiver training can do so only after they have tested negative on a supervised antigen rapid test. They should take the test no more than 24 hours before their visit.
For patients who are very ill, up to five pre-designated visitors may be registered, with a maximum of two visitors at the patient's bedside at any one time for a visit duration of no more than 30 minutes.
Yesterday, ST observed that some hospitals had put up signs to remind ward visitors of the new restrictions.
A 55-year-old retired engineer who wanted to be known only as Jack was at TTSH with his wife and son to visit his 88-year-old father, who has been hospitalised since the middle of last month after complications from an operation.
His father is seriously ill.
Jack said of the new restrictions: "Of course, from a safety point of view, it is good, but sometimes you need to exercise a bit of flexibility... For those who are severely or terminally ill, this might be the last time you see them."
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