TTSH dismisses nurse for making offensive comments online

SINGAPORE — Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has sacked a male nurse who made offensive comments online about Singaporeans, the hospital announced yesterday.

Filipino Ello Ed Mundsel Bello had joined the hospital in October and was on probation, the hospital said in a statement.

Its decision to dismiss him with immediate effect is independent of ongoing police investigations into more recent posts he allegedly made this month, for which it is still cooperating with the police, the hospital said.

TTSH’s own investigations involved the review of three online posts last year, which Mr Bello confirmed were made by him, said a hospital spokesperson. Two were offensive comments on religion made on his Google Plus page and one was a Facebook comment on Singapore.

The hospital said his comments were “highly irresponsible and offensive to Singapore and religion”, and had distressed the public and its staff.

“His conduct goes against our staff values of respect, professionalism and social responsibility. As a public healthcare institution, we take a very serious view and have zero tolerance for conduct that is offensive and detrimental to multicultural harmony in Singapore,” the hospital said.

Mr Bello’s conduct came to light about a week ago, when netizens found that he had called Singaporeans “loosers” (losers) in their own country and said he wanted to “take their jobs, their women, their future” and evict them from the country.

He said his Facebook account was hacked and that he had lodged a police report, but netizens uncovered other comments he had made earlier.

Mr Bello was put on administrative duties by the hospital pending police investigations.

In the wake of public uproar over his comments, the Philippine Embassy here issued a reminder on Jan 5 to its Facebook followers to be responsible when posting content online that may be offensive or hurtful to others.

“Use your good judgment at all times,” the Embassy said.

Mr Bello’s case is the latest in recent years of employees given the boot for making inflammatory comments online about Singapore society.

In 2012, National Trades Union Congress assistant director Amy Cheong was sacked for insensitive comments disparaging the Malay community, while Briton Anton Casey was sacked by wealth management company Crossinvest Asia for mocking public-transport commuters.

Mr Bello’s is the second high-profile sacking by TTSH in the past year. Last June, it sacked its former Communicable Disease Centre patient coordinator Roy Ngerng, who it deemed to have defamed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and to have displayed conduct “incompatible with the values and standards expected of employees”.

The hospital said in its statement last night that a quarter of its staff are foreigners and that it is proud to have a multicultural working environment. NEO CHAI CHIN