SINGAPORE - Private Terrenjit Gill was excited when he found out that he would be deployed to the Singapore Expo to care for Covid-19 patients.
This was an opportunity to put his training as a medic in the Singapore Armed Forces to good use.
The full-time national serviceman (NSF), who was enlisted in July last year, underwent a two-day refresher course on the use of personal protective equipment, including goggles, hair net and gloves.
"I felt this would be a really good experience - this is what national service is about. As a medic, this is where I can practise what I've learnt and put it to good use in a real-life scenario," said Pte Gill, 19, who will be studying medicine overseas after his NS.
He is among 100 soldiers from the Singapore Armed Forces Medical Corps deployed at the Expo community care facility since April 22, looking after about 1,800 Covid-19 patients.
Six halls at the Expo have been converted for Covid-19 patients, and SAF servicemen are in charge of two of them. Staff from Parkway Pantai and Woodlands Health Campus are taking care of the patients in the other four halls.
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who was at the Expo on Thursday (April 30), spoke about the need to be constantly vigilant as he visited the SAF deployment.
"Thankfully, so far despite a number of weeks which we've been dealing with infected or potentially infected patients, the SAF personnel have kept well.
"So we'll constantly remind them to be vigilant, but yes, personal safety is always a concern. This is a sacrifice, but it's a sacrifice that we all have to make," he told reporters.
He added: "I think it's very important because if we take care of the patients in these community care facilities, it will give our hospitals a lot of space to take care of other patients... So we want to make sure that we continue to get the hospitals to also continue with their core functions."
He disclosed that there were currently about 2,000 personnel from across the SAF involved in the national effort to combat the coronavirus, including in contact tracing operations and at foreign worker dormitories.
Community care facilities like the Expo are meant for Covid-19 patients with relatively mild or no symptoms and do not require extensive medical intervention. Most Covid-19 patients fall into this category.
The authorities announced on Tuesday that bed spaces at such facilities, which now number 10,000, would be doubled by the end of June, as Singapore prepares for more cases in the coming months.
As of Wednesday, there were 12,725 Covid-19 patients in community care facilities as well as and private and community hospitals.
Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Daryl Tam, 47, who commands the SAF task force at Singapore Expo, said that the morale among the men was high.
"When I ask the guys on the ground, they feel engaged and fulfilled, and they want to do their part for the nation. Anybody you ask, whether it's my NSmen, NSFs, or regulars, they all are just ready to do whatever it takes to make sure that the patients inside get well."
Operationally ready national serviceman (NSman), Lieutenant-Colonel (NS)(Dr) Gabriel Cheong, 44, a resident physician at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital's emergency department, is among those deployed at Singapore Expo.
The commanding officer of the 2nd Combat Support Hospital, an NSmen unit deployed there, was called up for his reservist duties two weeks ago, and was involved in the planning process for the deployment.
He said: "I think anybody can see that there's a critical need to save our medical resources for the patients that need it, otherwise if all our hospitals are full, even the patients that have road traffic accidents, or cancer, or infections - they can't be treated.
"I felt that this was a good thing, we're using our expertise to help in this fight against Covid-19. This is a whole-of-society effort, coming here to do this is actually very meaningful, and my men feel the same way as well."
