For subscribers
Overseas volunteering must move beyond personal fulfilment and good intentions
When done responsibly and sustained over time, it remains one of the most human ways we can build ties across borders.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Senior nurse clinician Maria Jumhasan (in orange) demonstrating how to manage a breech delivery at a district hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION
Shah Jahan Tajudeen
Follow topic:
In her usual job, Dr Shephali Tagore is a senior consultant at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital where one of her specialisations is high-risk obstetrics. But as an overseas volunteer with the Singapore International Foundation (SIF), she finds herself in a district hospital in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, standing beside a local nurse who has just helped save a mother during a complicated birth.
Although Dr Tagore is the one with extensive clinical experience, she is more than happy to guide and empower local healthcare staff even amid a difficult situation. The procedure is fast, improvised, and carried out with scarce resources, yet masterfully done. Afterwards, the nurse tells Dr Tagore: “We have always had the skills, it’s the confidence that changed.”
