Oral Answer by Senior Minister of State for Manpower Dr Koh Poh Koon to PQs on Updates to Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory
NOTICE PAPER NO. 782 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 1942 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui
To ask the Minister for Manpower given the recent issues highlighted at the Westlite Jalan Tukang dormitory, how will the Ministry be holding the dormitory operators and their corporate clients even more accountable for delivering an acceptable level of care to our foreign workers.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 785 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 1960 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Desmond Choo
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the findings on the allegations of poor living conditions at Westlite Dormitory at Jalan Tukang; (b) what actions has the Ministry taken to rectify the issues; and (c) what are the measures taken to prevent similar issues in other dormitories.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 798 of 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 1993 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Leong Mun Wai
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the overall vaccination rate for all dormitory residents; (b) what is the vaccination rate at the Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory; and (c) what proportion of Chinese workers living at the Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory have been vaccinated before they arrived in Singapore.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 798 of 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 1994 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Leong Mun Wai
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) with regard to the Westlite Jalan Tukang Domitory, whether there is non-segregation of workers who tested positive for COVID-19, substandard quality of food provided and lack of access to medical support; and (b) if so, who will be held responsible for these lapses in the migrant workers’ living conditions.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 798 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 1995 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what were the main reasons for the unhappiness of foreign workers at the Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory leading to the unrest on 12 October 2021; (b) what measures have since been taken by the Ministry to ensure that conditions have improved and that the previous conditions will not recur; and (c) whether any action will be taken against the dormitory operators, employers of the workers or service suppliers for any neglect or omission.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 806 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 1996 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Government will review its current stay-in requirements for workers in dormitories who are infected with COVID-19, bearing in mind that such accommodation typically requires a number of workers to live in close proximity when sharing dormitory rooms and common facilities like toilets, bathrooms and wash basins; and (b) whether such accommodation may allow for easier virus transmission as well as promoting anxiety and fear of infection among those sharing the same rooms.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 798 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 2006 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Pritam Singh
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) why was a foreign embassy able to respond more quickly than the dormitory operator or the Ministry with the provision of aid and support to foreign workers residing at the Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory; (b) what acts can be ascribed to the dormitory operator or other stakeholders that resulted in the unsatisfactory conditions at the dormitory; and (c) whether there are sufficient resources deployed to ensure minimum standards of hygiene, food quality and medical support at all foreign worker dormitories in Singapore.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 799 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 2039 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the reasons for the delays in isolation and treatment of COVID-19 infected workers, the extensive cross infection of workers, the serving of food unfit for consumption and the relatively low vaccination rate of workers at the Westlite Jalan Tukang dormitory; (b) what enforcement action will be taken against the operators, employers or food caterers; and (c) whether the Ministry has received and acted upon similar complaints from workers in other dormitories.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 799 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 NOV 2021
QUESTION NO. 2044 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Leon Perera
To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is being done to monitor and evaluate the quality of such food catered for migrant workers, including nutritional value and cultural appropriateness, food hygiene and safety standards; (b) on average, what is the time gap between production and consumption of such food; and (c) what enforcement actions have been taken against employers who fail to comply with the requisite food standards.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 801 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 2 NOVEMBER 2021
QUESTION NO. 2081 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Dr Wan Rizal
To ask the Minister for Manpower whether there are protocols in place to put parties to task should they fall short in deploying sufficient resources and not adhering to human resource, safety and health standards in ensuring the wellbeing of our migrant workers.
NOTICE PAPER NO. 801 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 2 NOVEMBER 2021
QUESTION NO. 2082 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Dr Wan Rizal
To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider setting up an independent committee to do a review of the Jalan Tukang Westlite Dormitory incident to prevent such incidents from reoccurring in the future.
Answer
1. Several members have filed questions related to the situation at Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory and I will take them together. Let me first explain the healthcare and recovery protocol for the dormitory residents.
2. In line with the shift to a Home Recovery Program in the community, the dormitories have phased in a Dormitory Recovery Program since 2nd October in the transition towards “living with COVID”. 98% of dorm residents are fully vaccinated, and most are below 60 years old. A vast majority of recent infections are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.
3. 45 larger dormitories now have dedicated blocks or rooms set aside within their compounds as Dormitory Recovery Facilities (DRFs). COVID-19 positive vaccinated workers who are asymptomatic or with only mild symptoms can recuperate and be monitored in DRFs while being segregated from other workers. Additionally, we have set up three Centralised Recovery Facilities (CRFs) in the larger dormitories to cater for workers who do not have access to the 45 DRFs. The 45 DRFs and three CRFs have a total of 11,000 recovery beds. We will expand these recovery capacities if necessary.
4. We have also aligned testing protocols in the DRFs and CRFs with the community. Workers who test negative on their supervised Antigen Rapid Tests after 72 hours of isolation can be discharged. Workers are given thermometers and oximeters to monitor themselves three times a day. A recovery buddy is designated in each room to help with the dissemination of information, and to monitor the health of fellow migrant workers. The dormitory operator also checks on them regularly. So far, over 17,000 workers have gone through the Dormitory Recovery Programme and have safely recovered. The majority were discharged by Day 7, with about half by Day 4. The small minority who developed symptoms continued to have access to medical support through daily sick parades at regional medical centres or telemedicine consultations which are available 24/7. Mobile Clinical Teams may also be deployed to DRFs or CRFs with high report sick rate to augment access to primary care. Fewer than 0.2% needed to be admitted to the hospital. The workers appreciate the convenience of dormitory recovery since they can return to their own rooms on discharge and resume work quickly.
5. Let me now give an account of the events at the Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory. This dormitory has about 3,000 residents. About half of them are employed by SembCorp Marine and almost all of them are newly arrived workers from China in the last three to four months. These workers were offered vaccination under our national vaccination program, with a small number taking it up. The employer has since clarified that these workers had been vaccinated in their home country before arriving in Singapore. The vaccination status of these workers needed to be verified through a serology test and WHO-EUL vaccination documentation before we can register them as vaccinated in Singapore. MOM has been working with the employer to expedite the verification. Progress has been made. To date, about 60% of the Sembcorp Marine workers have been verified to have received WHO-EUL approved vaccines, while a number had not been vaccinated with WHO-EUL vaccines and we encourage them to be vaccinated in Singapore for their own protection.
6. Following the implementation of the Dormitory Recovery Program on 2nd October, the dormitory operator began adjusting to these new protocols. On 10th October, there were 174 newly detected Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Antigen Rapid Test (ART) positive cases. However, the dormitory operator had difficulty processing the sudden surge of workers that needed to be conveyed. On 11th October, some key members of the dormitory staff did not come to work as they had tested positive. The Assurance, Care and Engagement Group or ACE officers on the ground stepped in to assist the operator.
7. In response to the sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases on 10th October, SembCorp Marine and ACE carried out a mass testing exercise on 12th October at the worksite and dormitory which yielded another 278 COVID-19 positive cases that needed to be conveyed from the dormitory to a CRF if they were vaccinated, or to an appropriate isolation facility if they were unvaccinated. This happened while the team was trying to process the previous surge, and the dormitory operator struggled to process the high volume. While the ACE officers tried to assist the operator between 11th to 12th October, it too did not put in sufficient resources during this time to triage, process and convey the COVID-19 positive workers before the second surge on 13th October.
8. Following the incident on 13th October, ACE took swift actions since that afternoon to stabilise the situation:
a. We doubled the number of officers to manage the conveyance of all infected workers from the dormitory. By the evening of 13th October, about 70% of the workers needing conveyance had been sent to the appropriate recovery or isolation facilities. By 14th October, the backlog was cleared.
b. In addition, ACE officers together with the employer, and dormitory operator engaged the workers and assured them that their feedback would be looked into, and there would be timely conveyance of infected individuals. The workers calmed down and returned to their rooms.
c. ACE deployed a mobile clinical team to the dormitory, to augment the medical services that were already available to the residents at Westlite Jalan Tukang Dormitory through regional medical centres and telemedicine. All those who wanted to seek medical care were seen by the medical team on the same day. This helped to reduce waiting time and allayed the fears and anxieties of the workers.
9. The situation has been calm in the dormitory since 13th October. Over the following days and weeks, ACE officers, together with the employer and dormitory operator, continue to be at the dormitory every day to engage the workers. In fact, over the last two weeks, ACE has introduced more videos and infographics to better explain Singapore’s strategy for dealing with COVID-19 and the recovery process in dormitories, in view that the newly arrived workers at the dormitory were used to a different COVID-19 management strategy in their home country. In particular, there are now videos of migrant workers sharing their recovery journey and assuring their fellow migrant workers, as well as videos of doctors answering common questions from migrant workers in their native languages. I urge employers and dormitory operators to do more to help our workers adjust to the new normal, communicate changes that will affect workers’ well-being and actively address potential knowledge gaps of their workers and residents. We also call on workers who are not vaccinated or not verified (if they are vaccinated overseas) to complete their vaccination or verification as soon as possible as this will protect you from serious illness. MOM and sector agencies will monitor this progress.
10. We also saw many of our partners coming in to support the workers after the incident on 13th October. We are very grateful and encouraged by the outpouring of support by the Chinese business community, the Chinese Embassy, NGOs like HealthServe, Migrant Workers’ Centre and the wider community. This is testimony to the civic-mindedness and big-heartedness of our community here in Singapore. This is similar to how at the height of the pandemic last year, MOM worked with the High Commission of India and the Bangladesh High Commission, as well as various NGOs to support our migrant workers, including celebrating festive occasions with them. We thank all parties for their contributions and donations, and we will continue to work together to care for our migrant workers.
11. Workers also raised concerns about the quality and hygiene standards of food provided by SembCorp Marine. We take this very seriously and have asked the employer to address the complaints. The employer has reported that they have made improvements to the food and the feedback from workers has been positive. The Ministry will not hesitate to take action against employers who fail to ensure workers’ access to safe food. The Singapore Food Agency is also investigating the food safety practices of the caterer.
12. In summary, there were shortcomings by all parties:
a. On the employer’s part, workers were upset and had raised issues about food quality and hygiene;
b. On the dormitory operator’s part, they struggled to cope with the surge in numbers;
c. On ACE’s part, we stepped in but did not put in sufficient resources in time to resolve the problem.
13. Following the incident, all parties have diligently addressed the issues, restored calm to the dormitory and the workers. We have also conducted a thorough review and tightened up the processes, especially for escalating and calling in more resources to deal with a surge in cases to be conveyed. ACE has also tightened up coordination and communication with dormitory operators and employers when handling mass testing exercises and a surge in cases. Investigations into failures to fulfil regulatory obligations, for example in food safety and hygiene issues are ongoing.
14. All partners across our more than 1,300 dormitories --- Dormitory Operators, Employers and ACE officers on the ground --- play important roles to support the recovery of our migrant workers. More than 17,000 migrant workers have recovered under the dormitory recovery program with the support of these partners. We will learn from this episode, continue to strengthen the partnership with all stakeholders and community partners to ensure the well-being of our migrant workers as we transit to endemicity.