A COVID-19 kind of summer

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected holiday plans for Pharmacy students in many ways. Gone were the usual overseas summer school programmes and internship opportunities. While some took online courses to gain new learning experiences, others saw COVID-19 as an opportunity to give back to the nation. Alicia Goh and Eugene Tan were among the few students who volunteered with Ministry of Health (MOH). Their work focused mainly on ensuring that personnel under quarantine were well taken care off. This included constant monitoring of their health status, arranging conveyance to personnel who required medical attention and ensuring that the required swabs were conducted timely to allow for personnel to be cleared of the COVID-19 virus. Below, they share with us their motivations and reflections on the experience gained.

“When the brunt of the pandemic first hit Singapore, I knew for sure that I wanted to play a part in the fight against COVID-19. As I had a keen interest in the planning and execution of public health policies, I decided to take up this unique learning opportunity to serve at MOH. My time with MOH has been a thoroughly fulfilling and enjoyable one. As we work through the cases each day, we liaise with multiple agencies and ministries to devise solutions to attend to their needs. No two cases are the same, thus each day at MOH is an exciting challenge and learning experience. The best thing of all, is the work-hard-play-hard team that I have alongside me, that made this whole experience such a pleasant one. Through this stint, I have gained a deeper appreciation for all the work that goes on behind the scenes in this fight against COVID-19. Having to navigate through the uncharted waters especially when little is known about the virus is certainly not an easy feat. Yet, I’ve experienced how quickly our policies and workflows are updated based on the latest scientific findings and regulations. Examples of these include border restrictions as well as swab frequency requirements.

I am confident about our country’s capabilities and efforts against this pandemic; and the most important thing that I have learnt, is that anyone can and should play a part in this effort against COVID-19. Only if we stand together, can we truly emerge stronger from this crisis.”

 -Alicia Goh, Pharmacy student, Class of ‘22

“Reading up on the news and current affairs after my finals has made me feel that I should play my part in this time of health crisis. Moreover, my deep interest in public health spurred me to join MOH in the national effort against COVID-19.
Initially, I had thought that joining the MOH taskforce against COVID-19 will be daunting. However, the team in the conveyance division was highly supportive and helped me make sense of the operations. Serving in MOH has also given me insights into public health policies, and how these are promptly updated based on the latest research findings on COVID-19, such as when it was announced that airborne transmission of the virus is possible.

Through this learning experience at MOH, a key takeaway for me is that the effort to tackle this health crisis is a multi-agency and multi-national one; all of us need to take an active role to contain the spread of the coronavirus. I also learnt that in crisis management, it is crucial to adapt to the situation to tackle them appropriately with the resources available at hand. Most importantly, it is often said that the ones at the frontline of this public health ‘war’ are our healthcare professionals. However, I believe that all of us are at the frontline; the moment we step out of our houses, we are either at risk of contracting the virus, or even a risk to others if we are carriers, asymptomatic or otherwise. To this end, I hope all of us will do our part so that Singapore can tide over this crisis smoothly.”

– Eugene Tan, Pharmacy student, Class of ‘22

Article by Elisha Teh Jia Yu (Class of ’22)