My 93-year-old unvaccinated father was admitted to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital on Wednesday for medical conditions unrelated to Covid-19.

My father has been living with my younger brother's family for the past seven years. My brother actively takes care of our father, together with the helper.

We, the children, decided not to send our father for vaccination given his age and underlying medical and general health conditions which leave him home-bound.

My brother, who is fully vaccinated, took leave from work to visit our father at the hospital on Thursday.

To his consternation, he was denied the visit at the registration counter. The reason given was that our father is unvaccinated and that it is Ministry of Health protocol that he cannot receive any visits regardless of the visitors' vaccination status.

To presume that my brother poses a risk to our father is puzzling since they live in the same household. He is in a general ward and thus exposed to other patients and their visitors. Even the healthcare professionals who attend to him might pose a risk to him as they are constantly in close contact with him.

Good patient care should embrace the love, emotional comfort and warmth that only the family can provide to the patient, especially one on his last lap. I don't think it is too much to ask for.

Cheong Hwee Leng

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/forum/forum-vaccinated-son-cant-visit-unvaccinated-dad-in-hospital