HealthServe is a local non-governmental organisation that offers medical care, counselling, social assistance and other support to migrant workers in the community. At HealthServe’s clinics in Geylang, Mandai and Jurong, migrant workers are able to access medical care for only S$8.
Since 2013, Associate Professor Jeremy Lim has been a volunteer at HealthServe. He started as a regular volunteer general practitioner for a few years before transitioning to the administrative side as chair of the medical services committee.
With the announcement of DORSCON Orange, the directive was that doctors working in public institutions should not cross from one healthcare institution to another, in order to avoid cross-infection.
As such, there was a sharp decrease in volunteer GPs at HealthServe. Assoc Prof Lim, whose other roles are not patient-facing, is now volunteering his time to see patients again.
In this ‘Stories of Us’ feature by Mothership, he explains why migrant workers are often left in the lurch in a public health crisis, and why he steps up to help.
“The migrant worker community is equally concerned about COVID-19 as the rest of Singapore society, and rest assured that the migrant worker community is likewise very, very proactive with hand-washing, with use of sanitisers.”
He added that, based on his conversations with patients at the HealthServe clinic, many of the workers themselves are afraid.
“Frankly, if they are at higher risk, then all of us become at higher risk also, because in managing outbreaks and epidemics, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link.
And if we don’t proactively look after the weakest link, then collectively, we will all pay the price.”
Read the full feature:
Stories of Us is a series about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Be it breaking away from conventions, pursuing an atypical passion, or making the world a better place in their own small way, these stories remind us both of our individual uniqueness and our collective humanity.
Assoc Prof Lim is Partner at Oliver Wymann and Co-Director of the School’s Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation.
(Header photos by Rexanne Yap from Mothership and HealthServe on Facebook)