On Tuesday (28 April), Member of Parliament (MP) of Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Louis Ng Kok Kwang on his Facebook page, sharing a post of It’s Raining Raincoats on paying tribute to the two deceased migrant workers, where one died of injuries at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, another died of pulmonary thromboembolism.
“We mourn the passing of Alagu Periyakarrupan and Subbiah Sivasankar last week,” said It’s Raining Raincoats on its post on Tuesday morning.
Alagu Periyakarrupan, is the Indian national worker who was found lying motionless at a staircase landing at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital last Thursday (23 April) after succumbing to his injuries.
The 46 years-old COVID-19 infected worker, according to Ministry of Health (MOH), was died because of multiple injuries consistent with those resulting from a fall from height, and was not due to complications from COVID-19 infection.
Another 37 years-old worker, Subbiah Sivasankar, was died of pulmonary thromboembolism on 22 April, says It’s Raining Raincoats, adding that the medical journal and other reports that they shared recently had shown heart attacks and blood clots maybe linked to COVID-19.
As stated in its post on Sunday (26 Apr), It’s Raining Raincoats cited the case 1604 which was reported to be a COVID-19 death and then had changed to heart attack. Similarly, the case of Mr Sivasankar who died of pulmonary thrombosis – blockage of an artery in lung – is not being reported as COVID-19 death.
Referring to an article in The Washington Post, It’s Raining Raincoats stated that coronavirus could resulted in blood clots which lead to heart attacks.
“This has to be taken into account and perhaps the cause of death revisited,” it wrote.
For all their years of contributions to Singapore, the organisation also thanked and expressed regret for both workers as they left their families to earn living in Singapore, but could not reunited with them any longer.
“Each of these men leaves behind a wife and young children who were dependent on them as sole breadwinners,” it wrote, saying that the organisation is reaching out their families for help.
It said, “In Alagu’s family case, we arranged for friends in the local area to visit the family to check on their wellbeing and deliver rations.”
As reported in CNA, Mr Periyakarrupan’s death has left behind his three daughters, his wife and her elderly parents while a volunteer from It’s Raining Raincoats has been in close contact with the family of Mr Periyakarrupan for any supports.
For Mr Sivasankar’s case, the organisation said that his wife is “inconsolable” and could not believed that his husband had passed away as he had called and spoken to her and the young children just the night before.
At the time of writing its post, the organisation noted that the families of the two workers “have not directly heard from or received anything from the employers”.
It however mentioned that “no amount of money” could compensate the loss of families whose had “a father and husband gone too soon”.
“We should remember that both men would have at least 15 – 20 years of earnings ahead of them. Regardless of amounts that may be given by employers and others, there is a large gap to fill in terms of compensating the family for a life time of lost earnings and in any case, no amount of money will bring back a life lost, a father and husband gone too soon.
“We ask for your prayers for these families, particularly for the children who have to now grow up without a father,” it added.
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo in a Facebook post on 23 April said that she was “deeply saddened” by the news of the migrant worker’s death.
Noting that she and Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam had visited the worker’s roommates — who are also his friends, Mrs Teo said that they “were sad but calm”.
“They shared with us that they’re satisfied with their work in Singapore, and that the employer has been taking good care of them,” she wrote.
“I reassured them that their health and medical needs are our uppermost priority.
“If they fall sick, the Government will make sure they are treated and help them recover,” Mrs Teo assured, adding that government officials had given the workers “all the right numbers to call”.