Poly student volunteers for night vigil in Sengkang General Hospital while dreaming of medical school

SINGAPORE – The sound of a buzzer late in the night in Sengkang General Hospital’s ward 69 launches 19-year-old Justin Tan towards the bedside of a 103-year-old man who wants to be tucked in at bedtime.

Mr Tan helps the old man, and sits down to chat for a while. The old man is pensive.

“I lived a fulfilled life but, in my long life, I have lost my wife and son,” he says.

Mr Tan is the youngest volunteer to sign up for Sengkang General Hospital’s Night Watchers programme, which helps support hospital workers during the graveyard shift. He usually helps out from 9pm to 6am.

A final-year biomedical science student at Singapore Polytechnic, he has been volunteering since 2023 and tries to use one night a week – Friday or Saturday – to help care for patients.

He was nudged by a friend, who was already volunteering, to sign up for what he calls “an authentic experience of the realities of healthcare”.

Over time, he became more deeply involved. “Volunteering has helped me solidify my interest in medicine and my goal to pursue a career in the field,” he says.

Sengkang General Hospital, responding to queries, says it rolled out the Night Watchers programme in 2023, and has had about 10 volunteers since the start of the programme, with their ages ranging between 19 and 49.

It aims to provide more support at night in a bid to boost patient care. Two volunteers have contributed more than 12 hours in 2025.

When Mr Tan told his parents about his plan to sign up for the programme, they were worried about whether late night shifts would affect his sleep and health.

He says he explained to them how the work seemed meaningful. “They said, ‘If it means so much to you, we will support it,’” he says.

Mr Tan balances his shifts with school by completing assignments early and managing his time closely – and this discipline has helped him maintain a grade point average or GPA within the range for local medical school admission.

His interest in medicine began in his early teens, sparked – of all things – by a scene from the medical drama The Good Doctor, where a doctor performs an emergency airway incision using a straw.

“It made me see what a big difference a doctor can make,” he says.

Mr Tan’s duties at the hospital on a typical day include changing linen, offering patients biscuits and Milo, preparing mouthwash, and keeping an eye on patients at risk of falling. But what he values most are the conversations.

Nights, he says, are when patients are most open to talking about their families, hopes and fears, and memories.

Says Mr Tan: “I enjoy working with older patients. They are vessels of wisdom.”

He often acts as a translator for Mandarin-speaking patients, and occasionally tucks a patient in when he is on shift.

In January, Mr Tan helped to calm an anxious patient who needed to have his blood drawn by the doctor. The ward was busy and emotions were running high, but the doctor remained calm.

She introduced herself gently, explained every step, and carried out the procedure with quiet precision.

“It was a balance of clinical accuracy and genuine humanity. It left a lasting mark on me,” says Mr Tan.

Mr Tan, who lives in Dover, hopes to enter medical school after completing his diploma studies. For now, he is enjoying his late-night sessions at the hospital.

He says: “I enjoy night duty because that is when conversations with patients become deep. Camaraderie happens. It’s a chance to show solidarity.”

Anyone keen to sign up as a volunteer at Sengkang General Hospital can find more information

here.