Wheelchair user, 70, hits head trying to use handicapped toilet with sloped entrance

SINGAPORE — To celebrate his 70th birthday later that month, Mr Choy Mun Yew made a trip on Oct 12 to the newly-opened Jurong West Food Centre and Market with his wife and domestic helper.

When the wheelchair user was exiting the handicapped toilet, he found himself having to mount a slight slope.

He lost control of the wheelchair and ended up toppling backwards and hitting his head on the ground.

About one and a half months later, Mr Choy’s family noticed that he had lost function in his left hand and could not eat properly.

They took him to the polyclinic and a doctor said he had had a mild stroke. He had a clot in his brain caused by internal bleeding, his son Choy Chee Chong, 37, told TODAY last week.

The family rushed him to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital on December 5 and he underwent brain surgery the day after.

A doctor at the hospital told the younger Mr Choy the clot had started forming more than a month before the operation. The diagnosis was a chronic subdural hematoma (a collection of blood on the brain’s surface) due to head injury.

The family then approached the National Environment Agency (NEA), which regulates hawker centres, to seek compensation.

According to the family, the agency said they needed witnesses or evidence to back up their claims.

“We went back to the hawker centre to find the two men who helped my father when he fell. Based on what my mum said, one was the husband of a shop owner, and the other could have been the owner of a food stall,” said the younger Mr Choy. “We asked around… but we couldn’t find them.”

He said he was surprised such a slope existed in a handicapped toilet.

“I feel that it is quite a hazard – a flat floor is much better for handicapped users. If the user is heavy and does not have enough arm power, it will be very challenging to control the balance and speed of the wheelchair. A wet floor further increases the risk of sliding,” he said.

Jurong West Food Centre and Market, which opened in early October, was built by the government but is managed by Hawker Management — a subsidiary of food centre operator Koufu — on a not-for-profit basis.

When contacted, Koufu referred the matter to the NEA, which directed TODAY to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

The BCA’s Code on Accessibility stipulates the minimum requirements for accessible toilets in terms of size, position of grab bars, location and height of water closet and wheelchair manoeuvering space, among other things, a spokesperson told TODAY.

According to the Code, floor surfaces around and in buildings should be “stable, firm, level and slip-resistant” to allow people with disabilities to travel without assistance.

Floors should “not have any drop or unexpected variations in level”. Otherwise, there should be contrasting colour bands and detectable warning surfaces to alert users.

“At the Jurong West Food Centre and Market, we observed that there is a level difference within the accessible toilet that is mitigated by a gentle slope, which has a contrast in colour against the surrounding floor finishes to indicate a level change. This does not contravene our Code’s requirements,” the spokesperson said.

The younger Mr Choy, a private tutor, said an officer from either Koufu or NEA called him last Friday morning to obtain more details and said they would file an injury report.

They have reviewed CCTV footage of the hawker centre on that day and could not locate his father in it.

The younger Mr Choy has also approached the Handicaps Welfare Association and the Law Society of Singapore’s Pro Bono Services Office for advice. According to him, the latter said his father’s case was “not very encouraging” and that it would be a “long battle”.

“They said legal services may be expensive,” Mr Choy added. “We will probably not pursue compensation anymore.”

His father, who was discharged this week, has been recuperating after the operation. He was unable to recognise his family members on the first day, but is now able to talk to them.

“But he’s not as strong as he was before the fall,” his son said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY WONG PEI TING