This is a letter emailed to me by Dr KK Wong.

By Dr K K WONG

The number of deaths and serious injuries amongst NS trainees have been increasing. This is a warning sign that things are not going the right way for the programme.

Sadly, I am afraid that the number of deaths and injuries will keep increasing for the following reasons. Firstly, we are suddenly subjecting a group of youngsters who may not be used to much physical activities to perform rather strenuous exercises for which their bodies have not been accustomed to. To put it bluntly, many of these NS Trainees may not be fit. Being a marathon runner myself, I know that it takes time to build up one’s fitness. Therefore to suddenly expose these kids to strenuous activities under harsh conditions is to ask for trouble.

Secondly, these youths may have medical conditions unknown to them. For example, as a doctor, I occasionally detect heart conditions in adults that have been missed during childhood such as hole in the heart or heart valve problems. These conditions do not surface under ordinary conditions but when the heart is suddenly strained due to the rigours of the NS activity, the heart can begin to fail and the person can go into heart failure and die. As the NS progamme is a compact 3 month stint, the opportunity is there for the heart to be severely tested.

Thirdly, the trainers may not know their limits as they have a target to achieve. They may over push the youths to activities that may cause damage eg the spinal injury in the girl who had to do the push ups. Now she is paralysed. Only today I spoke to a lady who was seen in the hospital for a different condition but the MRI picked up a disc prolapse. She had to go on medical leave to rest. Imagine the same person having to do NS. She too may suffer severe spinal injury.

Fourthly, there are no guidelines as to which trainees can be excluded on medical grounds.My own daughter who suffers from mild asthma was climbing up the slope leading to the canopy walk at FRIM when she developed a severe asthmatic attack and I had to escort her down. She couldn’t breathe properly and was on the verge of collapse. Imagine the NS scenario where an enthusiastic officer would force her to continue the physical activity without realising the gravity of the situation. She too could have died from this exercise induced asthmatic attack.

Fifthly, are there adequate medical facilities to cope with medical emergencies? The camps may be too far away to provide urgent medical attention when needed. What provisions have there been made for medical emergencies affecting NS trainees?

Finally, there are also conditions like dengue which the NS trainees are exposed to during NS training.

It is a great tragedy for our youths to die during NS training. Would our leaders allow their children to undergo such a poorly thought out programme without feeling apprehensive? I am afraid Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye may have more occasions to have a good cry.

Thank you.