Sengkang General Hospital nurse files police report, alleging that neighbour sprayed disinfectant at daughter’s face

SINGAPORE — A nurse from Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) has posted videos online of his neighbour insulting him and his family due to his profession, saying that he has made a police report after the neighbour sprayed disinfectant at his daughter’s face.

The hospital said in a Facebook post on Monday (May 18) that it is aware of the videos. When contacted by TODAY, the police confirmed that a report was filed and that investigations are ongoing.

SKH did not reveal the identity of the employee, and when asked, the nurse — who goes by the Instagram handle @jibby4g — did not give his name. 

His Instagram account has since been made private. 

In his captions that accompanied the Instagram videos, which have gone viral earlier, he wrote that he had a good relationship with his neighbour in the unit next to his for the past six years.

However, that stopped when Covid-19 broke out and the neighbours learnt that the nurse and his wife were “frontliners” — the man had said in one post that his wife was an essential service worker, though he did not go into details.

Since then, he claimed that he has been enduring taunts from his neighbour, who also verbally abused him with vulgarities.

The nurse wrote that even his parents, who had gone to pick up his children at his home, had been on the receiving end of verbal abuse.

Regulations during the circuit breaker period that limits movement of people stated that grandparents cannot go to their grandchildren’s home daily to take care of them nor can the children be dropped off at the grandparents’ home daily — but exceptions apply for when both parents are essential service workers and one parent is a healthcare professional.

In one video, the neighbour can be heard repeatedly calling the nurse a “virus” before he proceeds to spray something from behind his gate. The nurse’s daughter is then seen covering her face with her hands.

In a later post on Instagram, a photo showed that the nurse was at the Punggol Neighbourhood Police Centre. He wrote that he decided to file a police report when the neighbour sprayed Dettol disinfectant out of his door and some of the residue got onto his daughter’s face.

“Luckily, it didn’t get into the eyes,” he added. 

The nurse told TODAY that he had already highlighted the incident to his manager at work and to Dr Janil Puthucheary, Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency.

“I hope things can be resolved within that level as I do not want (to get) my neighbour, as well as myself, into trouble,” he said, adding that he could not say more about the matter.

When asked how his daughter was, he said that she claims to be fine.

“But as a nurse and a father, I know she is not,” he said, but did not elaborate.

TODAY has reached out to Dr Puthucheary for comments.

SKH said in its Facebook post that it “takes a serious view of this incident” and warned members of the public that cases of physical or verbal abuse of healthcare workers will be reported to the police for follow-up.

“Our medical personnel work hard to provide the care our patients need, especially during this time when the world is grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic,” the hospital said. “They deserve consideration, respect, and a safe environment both at work and at home so that they can continue giving their best.” 

Responding to TODAY’s queries, SKH said: “We are currently providing our staff with support during this challenging time and are unable to provide further details.”

This is not the first time that nurses have been subject to harassment from members of the public.

Earlier in February, TODAY reported that nurses were experiencing discrimination whenever they tried to take public transportation while wearing their uniforms.

The nurses interviewed at the time said that fellow train commuters would give them a wide berth, or taxi drivers would refuse to pick them up as they were afraid that they would get infected by the coronavirus. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NABILAH AWANG