Wednesday, May 14, 2003

This morning's headlines were rather alarming. A significant number of patients and ward staff at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH)are down with fever. As a precaution, over a thousand inmates and healthcare workers have been mass transferred to alternative quarantine areas, with the remainder quarantined within the hospital premises till further notice.

Investigations are still ongoing, as one of the first cases is a long-stayer who had no exposure with respect to SARS, and I guess people are scratching their heads saying, "What the...?"

It might have seemed like huge news, but putting this on the front page was just a tad premature. No doubt it would've frightened a lot of Singaporeans. Plus, the IMH, located at Buangkok Green, is situated right smack in the middle of a residential community.

I don't know anyone who works there, so if any IMH staff drop by, a brief update would be welcomed.
Personally speaking, I prefer to wait and see before crying wolf. In the meantime, I hope the psychiatric ward here won't get swamped. We're already overworked!

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