It is common to find cleaners hosing down toilets in Singapore - including the toilet seats - and then not wiping or moping them dry afterwards.

I have seen it happen in many MRT stations and older shopping centres like Beauty World Centre.

The floor is left slippery and the toilet seats and seat covers are wet, making them inconvenient and unpleasant to use.

Another unacceptable practice is the closing of the entire restroom during washing.

I have not seen this happening in places like Taiwan, where cleaners wash cubicles one at a time and where people can continue to use the other cubicles.

Replacing toilet seats with those that are not the same size as the toilet bowl is another problem I have observed.

Quite often, one finds a smaller toilet seat placed on a bigger toilet bowl, or a seat with a different curvature than the original one.

It is unsafe, unsightly and reflects the couldn't-care-less attitude of the building management.

Notable examples include restructured hospitals, polyclinics and community clubs.

Singapore still has a long way to go compared with Taiwan as far as toilet cleanliness and usability are concerned.

Perhaps the respective authorities could look into how we can improve public restrooms in Singapore.

Liu I-Chun (Ms)