SINGAPORE - Mr Ng, 80, is a dementia patient who suffered a stroke last year. He was depressed and refused to talk to anyone, including his wife and daughter who visited him daily at Jurong Community Hospital. Senior healthcare assistant Ilandari Deva Nishantha made the effort to talk to Mr Ng tenderly whenever he sponged, changed diapers and fed him, and to greet him in Mandarin - Mr Ng's mother tongue. Mr Nishantha, a Sri Lankan, ended up being the first person that Mr Ng spoke to after three months of not communicating with anyone. It moved Mr Ng's daughter to tears when she witnessed it. Mr Nishantha, 35, won the Exemplary Service Excellence Award at the Public Sector Transformation Awards 2021 on Friday (July 30). The ceremony was held virtually. He has been working at Jurong Community Hospital for five years, and has 15 years of healthcare experience under his belt. He moved from Sri Lanka to Singapore in 2006. Mr Nishantha said he was inspired to pursue a career in healthcare when, as a 15-year-old, he saw how his grandmother, then a nurse, tended to his mother and helped her recover from a fever. "The way that my grandmother took care of and communicated with my mother really touched my heart," he said. At Mr Ng's daughter's request, Mr Nishantha visited his former patient at home after he was discharged, as Mr Ng was in low spirits. He did this on his own time, outside work hours. Going beyond the call of duty, he shaved Mr Ng's face and changed his diapers during his visits, teaching the family's helper how to do so as well. Senior healthcare assistant Ilandari Deva Nishantha won the Exemplary Service Excellence Award at the Public Sector Transformation Awards 2021. ST PHOTO: TIMOTHY DAVID Migrant workers hospitalised for Covid-19 also benefited from Mr Nishantha's personal touch, when he was deployed to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital from around May to July last year. "I could sense that they were feeling down physically and mentally," he said. To make their hospital stay more comfortable, he went to Little India to buy soap for them, as well as other necessities such as nail clippers, slippers and Tiger Balm. He paid for these out of his own pocket. "As a foreigner in Singapore, I really miss my family. When I take care of my patients, it's like looking after my family," Mr Nishantha said. "I'm really happy to work in Singapore as a healthcare worker, and I'm really thankful to my managers and fellow colleagues for supporting me." More on this topic Related Story Chief nurses, Advanced Practice Nurses among winners of President's Award Related Story When nursing care comes to you
SINGAPORE - The hawker centre at Block 75 Toa Payoh Lorong 5 underwent deep cleaning on Thursday (July 15) morning after a stall assistant who allegedly visited a KTV lounge over the weekend tested positive for Covid-19. A crew of six people wearing personal protective equipment spent about an hour spraying disinfectant and wiping down the tables and chairs at the 36-stall hawker centre managed by NTUC Foodfare. Notices put up around the hawker centre said it would be closed until further notice, with deep cleaning and disinfection to be carried out on Thursday and Friday. Stallholders told The Straits Times that they were notified about the positive case at about 3pm on Wednesday. They were given three hours to pack up and were told to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days. Swab testers visited the homes of some of the stallholders on Thursday morning to test them for Covid-19. Mr Tan Boon Chuan, 50, secretary of the hawker centre's stallholder association, runs a dessert stall there with his wife. "It was very sudden and the whole hawker centre was a mess. Everyone was anxiously packing up," he told ST in Mandarin. He said he had to throw away all of the ingredients he had made for the day and will likely have to dispose of the rest he had to leave behind at his stall. "We are just waiting to be tested," Mr Tan said, adding that most of the hawkers, including himself, are fully vaccinated. Madam Ang Goon Lay, a 56-year-old drinks stall owner at the hawker centre, tested negative after taking a antigen rapid test, said her daughter, Ms Lim Jia Hui. The 27-year-old said her mother, who is fully vaccinated, received a call from the Health Ministry and thought it was a scam at first. Her mother was not worried about contracting Covid-19, but is concerned about the loss of income as the hawker centre is expected to be closed until July 25, Ms Lim added. Mr Tan said he is hopeful that the hawker centre can reopen earlier as the positive Covid-19 case was absent from work this week. He said the stall assistant who tested positive had allegedly visited a KTV lounge on Sunday. The man, who is said to be an assistant at Fang Yuan Satay, did not turn up on Monday and went to see a doctor after feeling ill on Tuesday, Mr Tan added. "It should not affect our hawker centre because he didn't come into contact with the people here," the stallholder said. Asked about the hawker centre's closure, Mr Tan added: "We are not the only hawker centre to have a case, so we are mentally prepared that this could happen. We are outside and interact with so many customers, it is inevitable."