Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stanchart Marathon organisers apologise after Dec 3 road closures affected patients, doctors

SINGAPORE – Organisers of the 2017 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon have apologised to those affected by road closures during the race on Dec 3, after a visiting consultant at Raffles Hospital said they hindered access for patients and doctors trying to reach the hospital.

Organisers of the 2017 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon have apologised to those affected by road closures during the race on Dec 3. TODAY file photo

Organisers of the 2017 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon have apologised to those affected by road closures during the race on Dec 3. TODAY file photo

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE – Organisers of the 2017 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon have apologised to those affected by road closures during the race on Dec 3, after a visiting consultant at Raffles Hospital said they hindered access for patients and doctors trying to reach the hospital.

“We offer our sincere apologies to those affected by the closures for the marathon,” said Ironman Asia, which organised the marathon that flagged off at Orchard Road and the Esplanade Bridge. Nevertheless, its spokesman said there was an agreement to facilitate access to Raffles Hospital “for all emergency vehicles, from all directions, including through closed roads”. The spokesman reiterated: “Access to Raffles Hospital on the morning of the marathon was facilitated through Rochor Rd reverse flow towards North Bridge Road. Access to the hospital was available to all vehicles.”

Earlier this week, Dr Chan Wen Yan, who is an anesthetist, claimed in a letter published in The Straits Times on Tuesday (Dec 12) that the roadblocks, which were “poorly planned and endangered lives”, resulted in delays in medical treatment.

According to Dr Chan’s account, ambulances had faced “significant delays” while going in and out of the hospital that day, due to the roads being closed between 1am and 8am.

As a result, patients – including one who was bleeding from a miscarriage – had to alight from their cars and taxis “several blocks away and continue their journey on foot”, Dr Chan said.

Another patient who was in premature labour was unable to reach the labour ward in time, and had to deliver her baby in the A&E department without her obstetrician present, she claimed. While Raffles Hospital declined comment on the matter, TODAY understands that emergency services were not affected by the road closures and roadblocks. The pregnant patient had also given birth in the labour ward, and not the A&E as mentioned by Dr Chan.

However, Raffles Hospital doctors told TODAY that non-emergency patients and doctors trying to reach the hospital were inconvenienced as a result of the roadblocks, with some doctors having to park their cars in other buildings in the vicinity.

Mount Elizabeth Hospital, which was the only other hospital located along the race route, said in response to queries that it did not have any issues with the road closures.

Mount Elizabeth Hospital CEO Noel Yeo pointed out that Orchard Road is occasionally closed to vehicles “for other events and festivities like Christmas, Chinggay and Pedestrian Nights on Orchard Road, even fashion shows”.

He said: “For each of these road closures, Mount Elizabeth Hospital works with the organisers and authorities to ensure that our operations are not affected by the road diversions. We also make sure our ambulance drivers are briefed thoroughly of all alternative routes to reach the hospital.”

Ironman Asia said it held discussions with the Singapore Police Force, Traffic Police, Singapore Civil Defence Force and Land Transport Authority when it was planning new route enhancements for this year’s marathon. It added that hospitals affected by the diversions were engaged to “develop alternative routes and direct access to A&E drop offs for patients, doctors and emergency services”.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our runners and community at large,” said the company’s spokesman, who stressed that “all routes and access points” were approved by hospitals and communicated prior to the race.

Nevertheless, the organisers pledged to improve the overall experience for future editions of the marathon. The spokesman added: “We’ve begun reviews of the race and will be making improvements to the overall experience for both runners and the wider community.”

This is the first time since Ironman Asia took over the organisation of the marathon last year that road closures have affected the roads around Raffles Hospital. This year’s race had seen the introduction of new heritage routes which took runners past Bugis, Rochor and the Arab Street enclave. It drew a record 48,000 participants.

 

 

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.