Only 25% of Singapore firms ready for flu pandemic

SINGAPORE: Only one in four companies in Singapore is prepared to deal with a H1N1 flu pandemic, according to a survey of more than 350 companies carried out by the Singapore Business Federation.

While schools have made it compulsory for all staff and students to take a 7-day leave of absence if they return from H1N1-infected countries, a check with businesses showed that this added precautionary measure may not be a practical move for most.

Here's the problem: smaller companies simply do not have the resources or manpower to implement a business continuity plan, let alone extra measures like what the Education Ministry has instituted.

Even with the leave of absence, students and those working in schools need not necessarily have to be cooped up at home for seven days. They can still go about with their daily activities. The idea is to mitigate the spread of the virus in an area - in this case the schools - where people congregate for a long period of time.

But while students are asked to stay away from schools for a week, the same cannot be said for their parents. That is because companies follow the Health Ministry's guidelines.

Right now, the advice is for people coming back from infected countries to monitor their health for seven days upon return. They will be quarantined only if they exhibit flu-like symptoms.

The Civil Service, too, takes its lead from the Health Ministry's travel advisory. Channel NewsAsia understands that the public sector will re-calibrate its human resource policy when Singapore fully moves into the mitigation stage of managing H1N1.

Most companies Channel NewsAsia spoke to have not made a leave of absence compulsory for staff coming back from infected countries, even if they feel well.

Chan Chong Beng, chairman of Goodrich Global, said: "I really don't think that the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) can afford to implement this self quarantine; we just don't have the resources to do it.

"It is very different from the schools; the schools can close for seven days, can close for 14 days, there's another indirect cost but there's no impact on the cost as compared to SMEs."

He said a lot of SMEs think "it could never happen to me". Mr Chan is also the vice-president for communications at the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME).

But being unprepared is even costlier. Teng Theng Dar, CEO of Singapore Business Federation, said: "You'll suffer complete disruption of operations when the situation turns bad and your supply chain is affected, your business affected and in the worst case scenario, in the very extreme case, then there'll be total shutdown of operations."

Mr Chan of Goodrich Global knows the impact only too well, having witnessed the Hong Kong experience when the first H1N1 case in the territory was discovered.

Goodrich Global, which employs some 170 people, has in place a comprehensive business continuity plan covering everything - from making available healthcare equipment to visitor management to making provisions for a holding area in case a suspected case surfaces within the company's premises.

For companies which want to take that extra precaution, the Singapore Business Federation has this advice - consider alternative working arrangements from home and perhaps even bearing half of the leave of absence so that employees do not deplete their personal leave.

For example, employees just take 3-and-a-half days off their leave entitlement for a 7-day self-imposed quarantine period.

"The situation whereby an individual cannot work from home, in the case of Singapore, to me, is non-existent because there are many alternative communication devices to keep things going," said Mr Teng.

He added: "I think the challenge will be the manufacturing sector where you need people on the ground to man the machines and you need qualified persons."

In this case, measures such as splitting staff into different teams would be prudent to ensure uninterrupted operations.

Mr Teng said: "There are different sectors, different requirements, it's difficult to give a one-size-fits-all answer. But I think the message is very clear - we have to work as one and have a good understanding and operate on the basis which is supportive and compassionate."

To engage more companies, the Singapore Business Federation is holding another Business Continuity Seminar on Thursday. It has already organised 10 focus group discussions and three mass sessions, reaching out to some 3,500 participants.

6 new H1N1 cases in Singapore, bringing total to 194

SINGAPORE: Singapore has confirmed another 26 new H1N1 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 194.

Ten of the new cases are local transmissions. Of these, four are from the Butter Factory cluster, a popular night spot.

One is from River Life Church and another is from the Singapore Armed Forces Maju Camp. The rest are unlinked cases, infected from those who had travelled overseas.

The Health Ministry said those who are planning to travel should check its website for the latest update on the list of countries with confirmed cases and/or exported H1N1 cases so that they can make considered decisions on whether to proceed with their travel plans.

For more information on Influenza A (H1N1-2009), please access MOH's website at www.moh.gov.sg, call the hotline at 1800-333-9999, or visit www.flu.gov.sg.

Meanwhile, more than 400 family clinics are H1N1-ready. The Health Ministry said supplies of Personal Protection Equipment and Tamiflu have been sent to these Pandemic Preparedness Clinics.

These clinics are located islandwide to ensure that Singaporeans have ready access to medical assessment and prompt treatment for mild cases of H1N1.

Schools to re-open as scheduled despite H1N1 situation

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SINGAPORE: Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has said schools will re-open and the Asian Youth Games and National Day celebrations will carry on.

However, recently-returned students who have travelled to affected countries will stay at home for one week before joining their classmates when schools re-open on Monday.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) will provide more details soon, added Mr Khaw.

The health minister was speaking at a news conference on Monday to give an update on the latest developments on the Influenza A(H1N1) situation.

Mr Khaw said that overall, life must continue as normally as possible, with targeted control measures.

One of them would be to close a school when a significant cluster is found so as to break the transmission, or to isolate a competing team from other athletes as was done with the Filipino and the Hong Kong football players.

Mr Khaw also revealed that the scientific committee, chaired by the Director of Medical Services, is effectively evaluating the characteristics and the genome of the virus.

The committee has determined that the H1N1 virus in Singapore remains identical with that in North America.

Hence, the consensus view was that the virus remains moderate-risk and Singaporeans need not panic over the development that there is now community spread in the country.

Mr Khaw is confident that almost all infected cases will be able to recover fully and that Tamiflu and Relenza remain effective against the disease.

He, however, added: "But I thought I should explain that moderate risk does not mean no death. Just like the seasonal flu, there will be some deaths. That's why we need to target the high-risk patients, especially those with underlying medical conditions and to render the best chance of a full recovery.

"And that is why we need to allow our hospitals to be able to focus on the high-risk cases and not be distracted or overwhelmed by hundreds of mild cases."

Among those in the high risk include pregnant mothers, people with asthma, those on kidney dialysis or on chemotherapy.

The Health Ministry intends to advise these groups of patients with direct mailers of what they can do to protect themselves.

The ministry is also gearing up all its polyclinics and a few hundred general practitioners to treat suspected H1N1 cases in Singapore.

Giving details of measures to tackle a wider community spread of the influenza, Mr Khaw explained that these will be called Pandemic Preparedness Clinics or PPCs and they can be recognised by their decal to handle walk-in suspect cases.

These clinics will only refer some categories of high-risk suspect patients to public hospitals. Mr Khaw said the Health Ministry will publicise to Singaporeans where these clinics are so they know where to seek advice.

He explained: "When the local bio-surveillance data confirms significant community spread and we need to move from containment to full mitigation, we will signal to the public to use these PPCs instead of going to the hospitals if their flu conditions are mild. And this may happen over the next few days."

The health minister also revealed that the government would secure adequate supplies of the H1N1 vaccine for the population.

Besides the existing supply contract with the vaccine manufacturer, Mr Khaw said the ministry is also in active negotiations with other vaccine manufacturers. The aim is to diversify the supply of H1N1 vaccines.

Concluding, Mr Khaw said that last week has been eventful in the development of the outbreak in Singapore and the ministry has expected this development, given the large number of travellers returning from their June holidays.

But he said seven-week head start in battling the virus has been extremely useful, allowing the government to gear up its system for the community spread phase of the outbreak.

His advice to Singaporeans is to carry on with their lives normally, but keep up the high standard of personal hygiene.

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so yah,
enjoy

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