The Workers’ Party (WP) chief and Member of Parliament (MP) for Aljunied GRC Pritam Singh took to his Facebook on Saturday (29 May) to address the many concerns from Eunos residents regarding the recently-activated screening centre in their residential area.
In his post, Mr Singh shared that the former Bedok North Secondary School (BNSS) site in Eunos was set up as a regional screening centre under the charge of the Health Promotion Board (HPB) about two weeks ago.
“Apart from carrying out daily swabbing, after 1pm, the centre is reserved to cater for vehicles conveying persons under quarantine. At another end of the centre, an area has been set aside to test individuals displaying symptoms of ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection),” he wrote.
According to Mr Singh, the activation of the screening centre has affected residents living at Jalan Damai in the Eunos ward of Aljunied GRC, in particular those at Blk 662-664.
He noted that the HDB service roads near their blocks have been congested with vehicles, workers, etc. While enforcement operations have been conducted against errant drivers, he stated that they were opportunistic and sporadic.
Mr Singh added that there is also the concern of many workers walking to and from the screening centre through the void decks of their blocks.
“I have visited the screening centre a few times now to talk with HPB officers and to see how the problem can be alleviated,” he shared.
During his visit, Mr Singh fortuitously stumbled upon an acquaintance from his National Service days, Mr Chin, who apparently is part of the HPB team in charge of all the seven screening centres in the Eastern part of Singapore.
“In view of the feedback, small lorries have been diverted into the screening centre to park after embarking/disembarking workers from today.
“HPB is also looking to deploy more traffic marshalls to better control traffic while maintaining safety considerations for users of the screening centre, and in doing so, reducing the prospect of congestion and illegal parking at Blk 662-664,” he elaborated.
Mr Singh added that the HPB team is also looking at alternative parking options within the BNSS site which require some site preparation, so as to contain activities within the screening centre as far as possible.
“To the residents of Jalan Damai, I know it has been a challenging two weeks so far, especially with many of you working from home,” he acknowledged.
Mr Singh went on to ask for residents’ understanding on the situation, while assuring that the HPB team are doing their best to reduce inconvenience to everyone.
“Even so, do drop your feedback to me anytime at [email protected] and I will do my best and work with the agencies involved to make things better,” he concluded.
