Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of the services in Singapore are stressed and manpower is short. It's a strain to the healthcare system and IMH is our largest psychiatry hospital in Singapore. We do have some manpower that is deployed elsewhere, but we still have general practitioners in polyclinics or in private practice who can refer them to IMH if necessary. So that means that they are always open for the very severe cases, whereas, for the milder cases, from what I understand, there will be a phone call made to existing patients.

I think the most important lesson that we can pick up from here is that the disease is really contagious. It’s no joke. Our government is scared, I mean many governments are scared, and there is a reason for them to be scared. I think the contagiousness of the disease is something that is more apparent when you are actually there, when you are seeing sick patients. I think that is something that has brought it home.