SINGAPORE: Visits will now be needed for individuals who desire to receive their COVID-19 vaccines with polyclinics, as everyday average acute respiratory system infection (ARI) attendances from both COVID-19 and other infections have increased significantly in the last two weeks.
Only seniors old 80 years and over can continue to walk into receive their vaccines at the polyclinics.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced this inside a press release on Friday (Jul 22), because it urged eligible people to instead visit any of the 10 Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres (JTVCs) located across Singapore for vaccinations.
Meetings are not needed with these centres, stated MOH.
The ministry added that over the past two weeks, adult emergency departments at public hospitals handled on average about two, 500 attendances each day, compared to the usual average load of about two, 000 attendances everyday, MOH said.
Across the children’s emergency departments at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and National University Hospital, there were on average about 680 attendances a day during the last two weeks, up from the usual average weight of about 450 attendances a day.
Of such emergency department attendances, about 40 per cent did not require emergency care.
“Such cases at the crisis departments divert health care away from patients who else genuinely require crisis medical attention, ” said MOH.
“As such, we would like to remind the public to only seek medical treatment from hospital emergency sections for serious or life-threatening emergencies, like chest pain, breathlessness and uncontrollable bleeding.
“This allows individuals with severe illness looking for emergency care to become attended to quickly and helps to preserve our own hospital capacity for those who truly need severe hospital care. ”
The ministry acknowledged that higher loads and lengthier wait times in the emergency departments and polyclinics may anger some patients and families, but reminded members of the public to treat healthcare workers with regard and not to harass or abuse all of them.
“Our health care workers continue to function very hard to ensure that individuals receive the medical care they require, ” said MOH.