Unfortunately, in the last month, she was diagnosed with a thyroid tumour when she requested to return home to look after her sick mum. We understood her concern but, having her interest at heart, we wanted her to return home without any health issues.

As our maid would be undergoing an operation to have her tumour removed and would require some time to recuperate before returning home, we applied for a new maid but our application was turned down by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) as my wife, who is pregnant with our second child, is entitled to only one maid.

When we appealed, we were told to put in a manual application, with letters from the maid's doctor and my wife's gynae.

However, after spending a week getting the letters from the doctors, MOM again rejected our application for a new maid.

Because of this, both of us will have to juggle our full-time work and housework and childcare for three to four more weeks as our maid is not healthy enough to work.

MOM has always encouraged employers to take good care of their maids. Why then has it rejected our request for a new maid while keeping the existing one here for treatment?

Does MOM expect us to send the maid home untreated?

Does MOM not understand the difficulties faced by working mothers who need to depend on maids to do the household chores and look after the children, especially those who are pregnant?

Ang Boon Kuan