Coronavirus: Supporting the front line

Converting facilities at short notice

Technicians using tape as safe distancing markers in the pharmacy at Singapore General Hospital last Tuesday.
Technicians using tape as safe distancing markers in the pharmacy at Singapore General Hospital last Tuesday. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR

Before Chinese New Year, Singapore General Hospital's (SGH) department of facilities management and engineering (FME) was activated to transform the hospital into an outbreak-ready zone.

Within two days, staff had to convert the ambulatory surgery centre into an extension of the emergency department to hold patients with coronavirus symptoms.

As the pandemic surged, they converted a multi-storey carpark into a fever screening area.

This heavy lifting was not unfamiliar because the department and its partners from facility service company ISS Singapore have been doing yearly drills and exercises to prepare for outbreaks since Sars in 2003.

"Our mobilisation process was more unique and structured compared with Sars because we were more prepared this time," said FME's director Tay Kim Say, 64.

But they did face unforeseen manpower and resource issues.

As 60 per cent of the department's contractors are migrant workers, they had to work with a smaller pool of people for a few weeks. This meant that the rest of the technicians and contractors had to work 12-hour shifts and on some weekends, said Mr Low Jee Keik, 58, ISS Singapore's senior key account manager. Previously, the contractors worked eight-hour shifts.

Due to Malaysia's lockdown, they were unable to import extra materials to build makeshift facilities. At one point, when the link bridge between SGH's Block 3 and Outram Community Hospital was converted into a patient holding area, there were insufficient partition panels to block off the area.

Desperate times called for creative solutions. The team recalled that a disused building at 226 Outram Road, which used to belong to the hospital and is now under the Singapore Land Authority, had some old furniture.

The FME team brought over some metal cabinets left outside the building and used them as makeshift partitions.

"This also helped to save cost, and the nurses and security guards could store their uniforms in the cabinets," said Mr Low.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 24, 2020, with the headline Converting facilities at short notice. Subscribe