Working right on the COVID-19 frontline is Clin Assoc Prof Mohamad Rosman. The head and senior consultant of SNEC’s Refractive Surgery Department is also a Dorm Medical Officer overseeing the medical teams at migrant worker dorms assigned to SingHealth. “I visit the dorm to make sure the medical posts and swabbing exercises are running smoothly,” he says.

Clin Assoc Prof Rosman explains that each medical team consists of eight to nine people, including doctors, nurses and admin staff. His role is to look after their welfare and to anticipate and resolve coordination issues with other stakeholders. “It is also my duty to work closely with the dorm operators and FAST to ensure there’s continuity of care and clear communications to the migrant workers,” he adds. Other than a short visit to Singapore EXPO — which has been converted into a Community Care Facility for patients with mild symptoms— to understand how things are run, “everything else was learnt on the job”.

What helped him cope was his previous career as a regular with the SAF. As a medical officer, he had not only lived through outbreaks of SARS and H1N1, but had also gone on numerous humanitarian missions, “so I have the relevant experience and that’s why they enlisted my help”. Not mincing his words, he describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a war-like situation. “I have a first-hand view of the situation on the ground,” he shares. “People generally think that, since the Circuit Breaker has been lifted, things must be much better — but we know that the war against COVID is not yet over.”

Clin Assoc Prof Rosman accepts that there will be challenges in his new role, and is alert to its inherent dangers. “It is true that it is risky at the dorms,” he says, and admits that he worries about catching the virus and passing it on to his wife and two children. Still, he believes that what he is doing is important. “If my effort can help the situation improve, it is worth the sacrifice I’m making.”

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