Dr Md Badrun Nafis Bin Saion

Something about what Raymond said about the (circuit breaker). When we are in the circuit breaker, we’re at home, we find it very inconvenient. But when we go out to the dorms, we go out to the sites, we see with our own eyes that it’s the weekday but everything’s so quiet. Everything’s shut down. There’s nobody walking around, there’s nobody working. And then we can see, my goodness, the impact on our economy. We’d always see the numbers later, you have already seen some of the numbers, but I’m sure the numbers will be bad.

There are a few challenges, and fasting is definitely one of them. I just went back to back today, and actually I feel -- even after half a session, half a day I feel drained. But today I went the whole day, and I tell you, I feel really drained right now. My mouth is dry. And when I got back just now, I was just flat. I’m glad I got home in one piece. The other challenge is actually communication. Because we want to explain to them what the process is like, we also need to ask some questions about their health.

Firstly, what’s important is actually, we want to test the foreign workers but at the same time, we have to ensure our own protection. So the number one thing we have to be aware (of), (is that) we cannot take it lightly. We cannot take it that “Oh, it’s okay it’s not going to happen to us”. There’s been testing (of) samples, random sampling of cases but in fact these random sampling of cases, there are positive cases.

For me, what’s important is actually being part of a bigger picture and doing my bit to help out with this crisis that not just the country but the whole world is having. Our communities, our country, our people are all affected by it. Even though as dentists we feel (the) restrictions and the imposed guidelines on us, we do our part with social distancing, we do our part in making sure we cut down on our treatment, on our patients. But there’s no direct input to the problem, no direct input to the situation, you see.

Well, definitely, I took a pause because I know that I want to go in and help. Then I was also thinking (about) the things that I can do to make sure that I don’t come back with something. But after a short, few seconds pause, I said I’m going to go in, and this is coupled with the fact -- reassurance by our boss that they’re going to give us the protection so it’s definitely something that I have no regrets doing.

It’s actually the sense of camaraderie, the purpose that we all have. You can feel that. Whenever we work in the morning before we go out, we can all feel that we’re all there for a reason. And then -- there’s not a large number of us actually, and then we see the same old faces, then we look at each other, then we just nod in greeting. But you never get to go with the same people twice, you see? So it’s a good chance to meet other dentists, that’s very memorable.