All healthcare workers in S'pore allowed to apply for overseas leave: MOH Holdings - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) has lifted the suspension on overseas leave application for all healthcare workers.

This comes after almost two years of long working hours and being away from their loved ones for some doctors and nurses.

The update was announced on Tuesday (Oct 19) in an MOH Holdings circular to healthcare workers.

MOH Holdings is the holding company of Singapore’s public healthcare institutions. 

In response to queries from The Straits Times, MOH said: “We recognise the need for staff to recharge and rest after a long period of fighting the pandemic.

“The public healthcare institutions will work to strike a balance for leave applications from staff so that staff can take turns to go on leave, while providing sufficient staffing for essential healthcare services.”

The Public Service Division (PSD) said its guidelines for public officers are aligned with the Republic’s national travel advisory.

It said: “Officers are advised to plan ahead and discuss their leave plans with their supervisors to minimise disruption to operations.”

MOH Holdings had told healthcare workers that it had reviewed the overseas travel guidelines for healthcare workers after the recent government announcement on the newly opened Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) on Oct 9.

The VTL arrangement allows travellers to visit 11 countries without undergoing quarantine if passengers are fully vaccinated. They must also take two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, before departure and on arrival.

Welcoming the announcement, a junior doctor who wanted to be known only as Faith said: “My hospital has a lot of foreign doctors who haven’t seen their families for about two years.”

Faith, 24, who works at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, said: “Some of them are being allowed to apply for extended leave of more than a month to travel home and meet their families.”

Both private and public hospitals told The Straits Times that they are supportive of the new move and will take the necessary steps to keep patients and staff safe.

Professor Fong Kok Yong, deputy chief executive of SingHealth, said that as an additional measure, all SingHealth staff working in high-risk areas who return from a country with no stay-home notice requirement will have to take a PCR test on the day they return to work. 

Dr Prem Kumar Nair, chief executive of IHH Healthcare Singapore, told ST that since Monday, the organisation has lifted all travel restrictions on its staff. 

IHH Healthcare Singapore manages Mount Elizabeth Orchard, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles Hospital and Parkway East Hospital.

Dr Nair said: “We are grateful to all our foreign employees who have sacrificed being with their families to continue working with us to care for our patients over the past 20 months.”

Tuesday’s announcement comes after MOH Holdings told healthcare workers in a circular on Oct 7 that it was suspending overseas leave due to an increase in Covid-19 cases in the community.

MOH Holdings had said then: “There is a need to ensure sufficient manpower to support ground operations and ensure that patient safety is not compromised.”

Strategy professor Lawrence Loh of the National University of Singapore Business School said that it is important to balance the surge in Covid-19 cases with the mental wellness of healthcare staff.

He said: “We can beef up the healthcare system by hiring para-nurses and redeploying staff from vaccination centres which are no longer in use.”

Professor Dale Fisher, a senior infectious diseases consultant at the National University Hospital, said: “(For healthcare workers), the relentlessness paired with constant personal protective equipment use and having to be so careful every moment at work is certainly taking its toll.”

Associate Professor Jeremy Lim from the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health said: “If healthcare workers continue to work under such stressful conditions, they will no longer be productive. Therefore, it is crucial we look after (our) healthcare workers.” 

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2021-10-19 16:19:25Z
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All healthcare workers in S'pore allowed to apply for overseas leave: MOH Holdings - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) has lifted the suspension on overseas leave application for all healthcare workers.

This comes after almost two years of long working hours and being away from their loved ones for some doctors and nurses.

The update was announced on Tuesday (Oct 19) in an MOH Holdings circular to healthcare workers.

MOH Holdings is the holding company of Singapore’s public healthcare institutions. 

In response to queries from The Straits Times, MOH said: “We recognise the need for staff to recharge and rest after a long period of fighting the pandemic.

“The public healthcare institutions will work to strike a balance for leave applications from staff so that staff can take turns to go on leave, while providing sufficient staffing for essential healthcare services.”

The Public Service Division (PSD) said its guidelines for public officers are aligned with the Republic’s national travel advisory.

It said: “Officers are advised to plan ahead and discuss their leave plans with their supervisors to minimise disruption to operations.”

MOH Holdings had told healthcare workers that it had reviewed the overseas travel guidelines for healthcare workers after the recent government announcement on the newly opened Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) on Oct 9.

The VTL arrangement allows travellers to visit 11 countries without undergoing quarantine if passengers are fully vaccinated. They must also take two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, before departure and on arrival.

Welcoming the announcement, a junior doctor who wanted to be known only as Faith said: “My hospital has a lot of foreign doctors who haven’t seen their families for about two years.”

Faith, 24, who works at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, said: “Some of them are being allowed to apply for extended leave of more than a month to travel home and meet their families.”

Both private and public hospitals told The Straits Times that they are supportive of the new move and will take the necessary steps to keep patients and staff safe.

Professor Fong Kok Yong, deputy chief executive of SingHealth, said that as an additional measure, all SingHealth staff working in high-risk areas who return from a country with no stay-home notice requirement will have to take a PCR test on the day they return to work. 

Dr Prem Kumar Nair, chief executive of IHH Healthcare Singapore, told ST that since Monday, the organisation has lifted all travel restrictions on its staff. 

IHH Healthcare Singapore manages Mount Elizabeth Orchard, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles Hospital and Parkway East Hospital.

Dr Nair said: “We are grateful to all our foreign employees who have sacrificed being with their families to continue working with us to care for our patients over the past 20 months.”

Tuesday’s announcement comes after MOH Holdings told healthcare workers in a circular on Oct 7 that it was suspending overseas leave due to an increase in Covid-19 cases in the community.

MOH Holdings had said then: “There is a need to ensure sufficient manpower to support ground operations and ensure that patient safety is not compromised.”

Strategy professor Lawrence Loh of the National University of Singapore Business School said that it is important to balance the surge in Covid-19 cases with the mental wellness of healthcare staff.

He said: “We can beef up the healthcare system by hiring para-nurses and redeploying staff from vaccination centres which are no longer in use.”

Professor Dale Fisher, a senior infectious diseases consultant at the National University Hospital, said: “(For healthcare workers), the relentlessness paired with constant personal protective equipment use and having to be so careful every moment at work is certainly taking its toll.”

Associate Professor Jeremy Lim from the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health said: “If healthcare workers continue to work under such stressful conditions, they will no longer be productive. Therefore, it is crucial we look after (our) healthcare workers.” 

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2021-10-19 16:09:31Z
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Single mother with nine children sentenced to death for meth possession in Malaysia - Yahoo Singapore News

A 55-year-old Malaysian woman was handed the death penalty on 15 October for possession and distribution of 113.9 g of meth. Screengrab (Media Viral TV / YouTube)

A 55-year-old woman was sentenced to death in Malaysia last week after being convicted for possessing drugs.

Hairun Jalmani, a single mother of nine children, was sentenced by Judge Alwi Abdul Wahab on 15 October at the Tawau High Court in Sabah, Malaysia. She was caught with 113.9g of methamphetamine in January 2018.

A harrowing video of the woman, who works as a fishmonger, crying inconsolably after she was handed the death sentence has gone viral on social networks in the country, igniting a fierce debate on women’s rights and capital punishment.

The 45-second video shows a handcuffed Jalmani breaking down in tears as she is taken away from the courthouse. She also pleaded for help outside the courtroom while sobbing uncontrollably.

Under Malaysian law, those found in possession of over 50 grams of methamphetamine face a mandatory death penalty. It is among a minority of countries — China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Singapore — that continue to impose the death penalty for drug-related offences.

Critics say the harsh penalties are overwhelmingly borne by the country’s marginalised, especially vulnerable women. They also pointed out that most women on death row in Malaysia have been sentenced under the strict drug trafficking law that “fails to take their vulnerable socio-economic realities into account”.

According to an Amnesty International report, till February 2019, as many as 1,281 people were reported to be on death row in Malaysia. Of this, 568 people, or 44 per cent, were foreign nationals. “Of the total, 73 per cent have been convicted of drug trafficking,” the report said, adding that “this figure rises to a staggering 95 per cent in the cases of women”.

“Some ethnic minorities are overrepresented on death row, while the limited available information indicates that a large proportion of those on death row are people with less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds,” the report added.

Jalmani’s case is an “example of how Malaysia’s death penalty punishes the poor [with] particular discriminations against women”, Amnesty International Malaysia said on Monday.

The agency added that “women who have been subjected to violence, abuse, and exploitation have little to no chance to get these factors taken into account at sentencing”.

In 2017, Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation senior vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye — who also served as the vice-president of the Malaysian Drug Prevention Association previously — had said that socio-economic factors such as poverty and a lack of employment opportunities were some reasons for drug use among fishermen.

“Many of them live in squalid conditions, both in their dilapidated homes and on fishing boats. These are among the main factors that cause them to take drugs,” he had said.

Several activists pointed out that the death sentence was an injustice to Jalmani’s nine children.

“Why is the right to life so easily denied by the govt?” Amnesty Malaysia asked. “Who is kept safe when a single mother of nine is sentenced to death and removed from her children? What justice is served when the structural inequalities and oppressions that created the conditions for her charge remain?”

It also appealed to the Malaysian government to repeal the mandatory death penalty for all offences.

Meanwhile, on social media, several commentators criticised the death penalty.

Tehmina Kaoosji, a journalist, said: “Justice is blind and repealing the death sentence is a solitary component of reform. The mitigating circumstances are policy and societally driven i.e; patriarchal- and MUST change, else the toxic cycle quite simply continues.”

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All healthcare workers in S'pore allowed to apply for overseas leave: MOH Holdings - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) has lifted the suspension on overseas leave application for all healthcare workers.

This comes after almost two years of long working hours and being away from their loved ones for some doctors and nurses.

The update was announced on Tuesday (Oct 19) in an MOH Holdings circular to healthcare workers.

MOH Holdings is the holding company of Singapore's public healthcare institutions.

The circular said: "With the recent government announcement on the streamlined protocols and the newly opened Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) on Oct 9, MOH has further reviewed the overseas travel guidelines for healthcare workers."

The VTL arrangement allows travellers to visit 11 countries without undergoing quarantine if passengers are fully vaccinated. They must also take two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, before departure and on arrival.

These countries, whose Covid-19 situations are stable, are Brunei, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Britain and the United States.

On Tuesday, MOH Holdings said: "All overseas travel shall be subject to MOH's prevailing travel advisory as well as the national travel health control measures found on the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority website."

Checks by The Straits Times showed that these include having a passport with a validity period of at least six months and having the required entry visa for destination countries.

MOH Holdings added that healthcare professionals who wish to travel overseas should declare their vaccination status and indicate the country and city of their overseas trip when they apply for annual leave.

ST understands that both public and private healthcare providers have been making preparations so that their staff can go on vacation.

Dr Prem Kumar Nair, IHH Healthcare Singapore's chief executive, told ST that since Monday, it has lifted all travel restrictions on its staff.

IHH Healthcare Singapore manages Mount Elizabeth Orchard, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles Hospital and Parkway East Hospital.

Dr Nair said: "We are grateful to all our foreign employees who have sacrificed being with their families to continue working with us to care for our patients over the past 20 months."

ST has contacted MOH for comment.

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2021-10-19 07:26:49Z
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China, Russia navy ships jointly sail through Japan strait - CNA

TOKYO: A group of 10 naval vessels from China and Russia sailed through a strait separating Japan's main island and its northern island of Hokkaido on Monday (Oct 18), the Japanese government said, adding that it is closely watching such activities.

It was the first time Japan has confirmed the passage of Chinese and Russian naval vessels sailing together through the Tsugaru Strait, which separates the Sea of Japan from the Pacific.

While the strait is regarded as international waters, Japan's ties with China have long been plagued by conflicting claims over a group of tiny East China Sea islets. Tokyo has a territorial dispute with Moscow, as well.

"The government is closely watching Chinese and Russian naval vessels' activities around Japan like this one with high interest," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a regular news conference on Tuesday.

"We will continue to do our utmost in our surveillance activity in waters and airspace around Japan."

A Japanese Defence Ministry spokesperson said there had been no violation of Japanese territorial waters and no international rules were broken by the passage of the vessels.

Russia and China held joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan as part of naval cooperation between the two countries from Oct 14 to 17 involving warships and support vessels from Russia's Pacific Fleet.

Moscow and Beijing have cultivated closer military and diplomatic ties in recent years at a time when their relations with the West have soured.

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2021-10-19 06:03:05Z
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North Korea likely launched its first submarine missile in two years - The Straits Times

SEOUL (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - North Korea appeared to have fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile for the first time in about two years, adding to a series of tests by Kim Jong Un’s regime of nuclear weapons designed to evade US interceptors.

North Korea is suspected of launching an SLBM on Tuesday (Oct 19) from the east coast area of Sinpo into waters between the peninsula and Japan, South Korea’s military said. It did not say if the short-range missile was fired from a submarine or an underwater platform. North Korea has a submarine base and an underwater platform for missile tests in that area. 

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said North Korea fired two ballistic missiles and no damage has been reported. North Korea is barred by United Nations resolutions from ballistic missile testing, and Tokyo protested the latest launch. 

The latest launch follows a series of tests in September of weapons designed to deliver nuclear warheads to South Korea and Japan – two US allies that host the bulk of American troops in the region.

One of the weapons was what North Korea called a “hypersonic missile", suggesting the regime had come closer to putting nuclear warheads in high-speed gliders that can evade US missile defences. Kim Jong Un’s state last month also showed off a new system to launch ballistic missiles from a train – just hours before South Korean President Moon Jae-in observed his government’s test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. 

North Korea often times its tests for political purposes. On Thursday, South Korea is set to launch its new three-stage Nuri rocket, a US$1.8 billion project designed to put a 1.5-tonne satellite into a orbit about 600-800 km above the Earth.

The missile launched on Tuesday flew 430-450km and reached an altitude of about 60km, the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing a person it did not identify. That would be consistent with a short-range ballistic missile and not nearly as long as when it last tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile in October 2019, firing a Pukguksong-3 from an underwater platform.

The Pukguksong-3 is designed to be launched from a submarine and has an estimated range of at least 1,900 kilometers. Japan initially mistook that test of a single, two-stage missile as being a launch of two missiles.

Since then, North Korea has rolled out two new versions of the weapon – the Pukguksong-4 and Pukguksong-5 – in military parades.

Yonhap News Agency said the latest test may be of a shorter-range SLBM, which appeared to be part of an array of weapons on display last week at an indoor show in Pyongyang. The exhibitions also included the hypersonic glide vehicle and what weapons experts said is the world’s largest road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile and likely designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to the US mainland.

The latest launch provides a reminder to US President Joe Biden that Kim’s nuclear arsenal remains among the United States' biggest foreign policy challenges despite former president Donald Trump’s decision to hold face-to-face summits with the North Korean leader. Although Kim made a vague commitment in 2018 to “work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, he has continued to advance his nuclear weapons programme.

In January, Kim outlined broad plans to upgrade his nuclear arsenal to improve his capability to strike the US, feeding speculation he would resume weapons tests.  North Korea has one submarine capable of launching missiles and has been building a second one at Sinpo. While such a vessel would probably be noisy and unable to stray far from the coast without being tracked, even one submarine lurking off the Korean Peninsula would give US military planners a dangerous new threat to consider in the event of any conflict.

North Korea’s debut of an SLBM in 2015 opened a new potential area of operations for its navy, the US Defence Intelligence Agency said in a report this month.

“This capability is likely to grow slowly because constructing and deploying new submarines requires a lengthy, resource-intensive manufacturing process,” the report said.

Timing of launch 

The North's missile launch on Tuesday pulled Japan’s new prime minister off the campaign trail and overshadowing the opening of a major arms fair in Seoul.

It came after US and South Korean envoys met in Washington to discuss the nuclear standoff with North Korea on Monday. Spy chiefs from the United States, South Korea, and Japan were reported to be meeting in Seoul on Tuesday as well.

“Our military is closely monitoring the situation and maintaining readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States, to prepare for possible additional launches,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

South Korea’s national security council held an emergency meeting and expressed “deep regret” over the test, urging the North to resume talks.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cancelled scheduled campaign appearances in northern Japan, and the deputy chief cabinet secretary told reporters that Kishida was planning to return to Tokyo to deal with the missile situation.

South Korea’s unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean relations, said daily routine liaison calls with the North were conducted normally on Tuesday.

The series of recent launches as well as the opening of the unusual military show in Pyongyang suggest that North Korea may be resuming military and international affairs after nearly two years of focusing inward amid the Covid-19 pandemic, said Chad O’Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group.

 

“North Korea’s renewed testing of ballistic missiles suggests the worst of domestic hardship between summer 2020-2021 could be over,” he said on Twitter.

“Pyongyang tends to focus on one big strategic issue at a time, so the renewed testing could suggest military – later foreign policy – now priority”.

The launch came as the intelligence chiefs of the United States, South Korea, and Japan were due to meet in Seoul to discuss the standoff with North Korea, amid other issues, Yonhap news agency reported, citing a government source.

The US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, said that he would visit Seoul for talks this week.

“The US continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue,” Kim said after meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Washington on Monday. “We harbour no hostile intent towards (North Korea), and we are open to meeting with them without preconditions.”

Missile race

The missiles tested recently by North Korea appear aimed at matching or surpassing South Korea’s quietly expanding arsenal, analysts have said.

Last month South Korea successfully tested an SLBM, becoming the first country without nuclear weapons to develop such a system. North Korea test fired a missile launched from a train on the same day.

This month the two Koreas held duelling defence exhibitions aimed at showcasing their latest weaponry amid a spiralling arms race.

As news of Tuesday’s missile launch broke, representatives of hundreds of international companies and foreign militaries were gathered in Seoul for the opening ceremonies of the International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (ADEX).

It is set to be South Korea’s largest defence expo ever, organisers said, with displays of next-generation fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, drones, and other advanced weapons, as well as space rockets and civilian aerospace designs.

South Korea is also preparing to test fire its first homegrown space launch vehicle on Thursday.

Though analysts say the South Korean rocket has few potential applications as a weapon, such tests are unlikely to be welcomed in North Korea, which has complained of a double standard in which its own space programme is criticised overseas as a front for military missile development.

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2021-10-19 01:38:35Z
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Australia's COVID-19 cases remain subdued as vaccinations rise - CNA

SYDNEY: Australia's COVID-19 cases remained subdued on Tuesday (Oct 19) as its largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, gradually move towards normality amid a surge in vaccinations, after being rocked by a third wave of infections from the Delta variant.

The fast-moving Delta strain forced Sydney, Melbourne and the national capital of Canberra to ditch their COVID-zero approach and officials now aim to ease the tough restrictions once double-dose vaccination rates passed 70 per cent, 80 per cent and 90 per cent.

Sydney, Australia's largest city, and Canberra exited a months-long lockdown last week after racing through its inoculation targets while Melbourne is on track to lift its strict stay-home orders later this week.

Authorities in Queensland, which on Monday became the first COVID-free state to outline its reopening plans, urged the state's 5 million residents to get vaccinated ahead of opening its state borders a week before Christmas - when its double-dose vaccination rate is expected to reach 80 per cent. 

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the opening of borders should act as an "incentive" for residents to get inoculated.

Queensland has so far only fully vaccinated 57 per cent of its population above 16, well below the national average of 68 per cent and 81 per cent in NSW.

"We've had the luxury of essentially being largely Delta free, so now it is really important for people across Queensland to get vaccinated ... Time is of the essence," Palaszczuk told Nine News on Tuesday.

A total of 1,749 new cases were reported in Victoria, the majority in state capital Melbourne, down from 1,903 on Monday.

Daily infections in New South Wales, home to Sydney, rose to 273 on Tuesday from 265 a day earlier, but well down from its pandemic high of 1,599 in early September.

More than one-fifth of the new cases reported in NSW over the past week are in children below 10, government data showed.

Australia has recorded around 147,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,558 deaths.

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2021-10-19 00:13:45Z
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