Home Briefs: Disabled prosthetist among 98 recognised

Prosthetist Desmond Tong and community care nurse Chin Soh Mun were among 98 award recipients at the Healthcare Humanitarian Awards yesterday.
Prosthetist Desmond Tong and community care nurse Chin Soh Mun were among 98 award recipients at the Healthcare Humanity Awards yesterday. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

Disabled prosthetist among 98 recognised

Unlike most prosthetists, Mr Desmond Tong, 40, is no stranger to life with disability.

A motorcycle accident at the age of 22 made him an amputee himself. He fought both the physical complications of seven harrowing operations - first to save his crushed right leg and then to amputate it below the knee - and the depression of losing freedom and mobility overnight, eventually returning to sports such as basketball and golf.

Now the business development manager for Ottobock Southeast Asia, Mr Tong has devoted his life to not just fitting amputees with prosthetics but also to push them to find a new life.

He takes patients out to try different sports, sometimes participating with them. "If they are shy because they have lost a leg, I will go and swim with them."

Yesterday he was one of four to receive an Honourable Mention, the highest award conferred at the 14th Healthcare Humanity Awards.

The other recipients were Mr Alan Ng, Ms Ann Kyi and Ms Zahara Mahmood. The guest of honour was President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

There were 98 recipients at the annual ceremony to recognise the efforts of healthcare workers from various sectors of the healthcare industry who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. NG WEI KAI


Man who posed as lawyer jailed for four years

Over 11/2 years, he posed as a lawyer, duping 24 victims of over $300,000 in various legal-related expenses.

Yesterday, Thong Meng Fie, 40, was jailed for four years after he admitted to 13 of 53 charges, mostly of cheating, committed between September 2014 and March last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhd Faizal said Thong started a company in 2015 called Proz Consultantz, registered to his wife, Madam Veronica Tay Ting Ting, offering legal services to China nationals in Singapore.

Whenever potential clients enquired about its services, he would purport to be a lawyer, to deceive them into engaging him.

He even had an office in Battery Road and hired employees to give a facade of legitimacy to his claim. ELENA CHONG

Correction note: This story has been edited to correct the name of the company Ottobock Southeast Asia, as well as the name of the award Healthcare Humanity Awards. We are sorry for the errors.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 26, 2017, with the headline Home Briefs: Disabled prosthetist among 98 recognised. Subscribe