Bus jerks and woman, 68, falls.
Now in hospital, she says of driver and doctor: They thought I
wasn't badly hurt
By Arul John
May 16, 2007
SHE had just boarded the bus when she lost her balance and
fell.
Instead of helping her, the driver told her to be more careful, she
claimed.
Later, a doctor who examined her injuries apparently failed to give
her a thorough check-up.
Now, Madam Soh Cheng Hong, 68, is lying in a hospital bed after
undergoing surgery for a fractured wrist.
And she may also need to have her eye and legs treated.
The incident happened last Friday when she boarded SBS Transit
service 51 at Geylang Lorong 11 at 7.45am.
She was going home to Eunos Crescent, where she lives with her
daughter, Miss Kwek Jin Geok, 36, a manager.
Madam Soh had just completed her night shift as a housekeeper at a
hotel.
Speaking from her bed at East Shore Hospital, she recalled: 'I had
just boarded the bus and was going to find my seat.
'Then the bus jerked and I swung backwards. I fell on my left side
on the floor, near the exit doors.'
Madam Soh claimed she also hit one of the metal grabbing poles in
the bus as she swung backwards.
Madam Soh in hospital after surgery on her fractured wrist. The
polyclinic doctor had told her she didn't need an X-ray, she said.
-- Picture: GAVIN FOO
She said the driver may not have noticed her, but after she fell,
he didn't ask how she was. Instead, he said that old women like her
should be more careful.
Two elderly men offered to help her, but she declined as she
'wanted to get up on my own', she said.
Standing up, she felt her left leg and arm aching.
About 15 minutes later, before alighting in front of Eunos MRT
station, she noticed her left eye was swollen.
Around 1pm, when the pain persisted, she went to a nearby
polyclinic with her grandson.
'The doctor checked my blood pressure and seemed to rush through
the examination. He gave me some tablets for my high blood
pressure, some Panadol and a cream to apply on my bruises.
'I asked him if I needed an X-ray, but he said my injury was not
serious and gave me a letter for me to return to the clinic for
review in two weeks' time,' she said.
Her condition did not improve the next morning, so Miss Kwek took
her mother, with her left arm bandaged, to East Shore
Hospital.
An X-ray showed that Madam Soh had a fracture in her left
wrist.
Miss Kwek said: 'The specialist said she needed an operation
immediately to prevent any deformity to her limb and surgery was
done later that day.'
She said her mother was in stable condition and may need further
treatment for her left eye and leg.
DRIVER SUSPENDED
An SBS Transit spokesman earlier said they weren't aware of the
incident as nobody had reported it.
Ms Tammy Tan, SBS Transit's director of corporate communications,
asked to speak to Miss Kwek to get more information.
She said in a statement that its staff members have visited Madam
Soh in hospital and 'are assisting her'.
Ms Tan said the organisation takes a firm view on such
matters.
'All bus captains have been told that they must stop and enquire
should any passenger hurt themselves on board.
'The bus captain has been suspended from driving with immediate
effect and we will take the appropriate disciplinary action,
including possible termination, pending outcome of the
investigation,' she said.
Miss Kwek was grateful for the visit by SBS Transit.
She said: 'The bus captain should have been more concerned for my
mother and her condition after she fell. He did not even apologise
or checked on how she was.
'Old people are frail and when they fall, they can have many
injuries that are not immediately visible.
She was also puzzled why the polyclinic doctor had paid scant
attention to her mother's injuries.
'Why did the doctor not do an X-ray scan for my mother?' Miss Kwek
asked. 'She had to ask for it.'
A spokesman for SingHealth Polyclinics also visited Madam Soh in
hospital and said it would investigate the case.
