Doctors at polyclinic told me twice I had
common flu - H1N1 student at RI
One of the students at the Raffles Institution Boarding School,
who is down with H1H1, said he was told twice by doctors at a
polyclinic that he had the common flu.
And it was not until he saw a doctor at a private clinic before
he was sent to the Communicable Disease Centre and tested positive
for H1N1.
The second year junior college student who is a foreigner also
said he had not travelled out of Singapore during the June
holidays.
The JC 2 student said he developed a high fever, headache and a
runny nose last Tuesday, two days after he returned from a
volunteering camp.
He was told by a teacher in his boarding school to see a doctor
immediately.
The student subsequently went to the Ang Mo Kio polyclinic on
the same day and again on the following day.
" They think it is just like a normal virus so they gave me
normal flu treatment, like antibiotics and all that. They said it
is just like a normal flu, then on Thursday night I went to a
family clinic because I got high fever and afterwhich they refer me
to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. "
The student who has been admitted to the CDC since Saturday,
says his fever has subsided and he is doing well.
As for the camp which he attended, the organiser YMCA says it
has yet to verify that the student had indeed gotten the virus
there.
The 4 -day camp was attended by nearly 250 people about half of
whom were beneficiaries from special needs organisations.
YMCA's General Secretary Albert Ching says they have conducted
temperature checks throughout the camp and have since called up all
the participants and told them to monitor for flu-like
symptoms.
So far, there have been no suspected cases.
Over at the Raffles Institution Boarding School where the
student was residing, boarders have been quarantined due to the
four confirmed cases of H1N1.
According to one student staying there, mid term tests for those
who had been in close contact with the affected students, are being
taken in individual rooms.
These students will not be graded in this round of tests.
" What we are doing right now is to have our exams in our
respective rooms. We received the papers around an hour and a half
after the paper in school is being distributed, then our teacher
will then give us the paper for us to do it by ourselves. "
At other boarding schools, preparations have been made for
students quarantined after returning from affected countries.
ACS Independent for instance has issued 217 Leave Of Absence,
half of which are for the students residing in its nine halls.
Principal of ACS I , Dr Ong Teck Chin.
" We do not allow them to have easy access and contact with
other students, they are all in their individual halls, we also
have a medical centre, they do not go down to the dining hall for
meals, we pack food for them. Our hall is built quite differently,
every level has their own entertainment area so if they are
isolated then still have the TV, radio and computers and we have
staff on both levels to check on them. "
--938Live