Latest news with #HousingBoard
Online Citizen
2 days ago
- General
- Online Citizen
Fire at Whampoa Heights leaves five hospitalised, 40 evacuated as SCDF investigates cause
SINGAPORE: A fire broke out at Whampoa Heights on 29 May 2025, prompting the evacuation of 40 residents and hospitalising five individuals for smoke inhalation. Footage of the incident circulated on TikTok showed flames and thick smoke rising from the second and third floors of the Housing Board block. According to a Facebook post by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), firefighters from Central Fire Station responded at about 11:40am. The fire, occurred at 20 Jalan Tenteram, had involved items placed along the corridor outside units on both floors. The flames had also spread into the interiors of the affected units. SCDF deployed two water jets to bring the situation under control. Several neighbouring units sustained heat and soot damage. As a precaution, about 40 residents from the block were evacuated by SCDF and the Police. SCDF conveyed two people to Singapore General Hospital, two to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and one to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. SCDF advised residents to help maintain a safe living environment by ensuring common corridors, lift lobbies, and staircases remain free of clutter. Cluttered spaces can accelerate fire spread and obstruct emergency response. In 2021, the same block experienced another fire that led to ten hospitalisations. SCDF's 2024 statistics show 968 residential fire calls were made that year, with the top causes being unattended cooking and fires of electrical origin.
CNA
2 days ago
- General
- CNA
Fire breaks out at Whampoa HDB block; five people taken to hospital
SINGAPORE: A fire broke out at a Housing Board block at 20 Jalan Tenteram on Thursday (May 29), said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). Five people were taken to hospital as a result of the blaze, which also prompted the precautionary evacuation of about 40 others from the block. In a post on social media, SCDF said that firefighters responded to the fire at about 11.40am, and that the fire involved items placed along the corridor outside units on the second and third floors. "The fire had also affected the inside of both these units," it said, adding that the fire was extinguished using two water jets. "As a result of the fire, a few neighbouring units also sustained heat and soot damage." Two people were taken to Singapore General Hospital, two to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and one to KK Women's and Children's Hospital for smoke inhalation. "The cause of the fire is under investigation," SCDF said. SCDF advised members of the public to "help maintain a safe living environment by keeping common corridors, lift lobbies and staircases free of clutter". "A cluttered corridor can increase the risk of fire spread, hinder evacuation efforts and delay SCDF's response during an emergency," it said.
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Public housing affordability, supply priorities for new National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat
Mr Chee Hong Tat said his ministry will continue to have a strong supply of new BTO flats, building on the work of former National Development Minister Desmond Lee. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG SINGAPORE - The affordability of Housing Board resale flats is a key priority for the Government, said National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat. 'This is an important area for my ministry and me . We want to see how we can help to address this concern at the heart of it,' he told reporters on May 28 , five days after assuming the national development portfolio. Mr Chee attributed higher resale prices to the Covid-19 pandemic, which slowed the construction of Build-To-Order (BTO) flats and drove some home buyers to the resale market. Resale prices are expected to moderate in the years ahead as more flats reach their minimum occupation period (MOP) from 2026, he said. From October 2024, a Standard BTO flat comes with a five-year MOP, during which the owners must reside physically in the unit before it can be resold. Plus and Prime flats have a 10-year MOP. Before this, all flats had a five-year MOP. Mr Chee, who was sworn in as the Minister for National Development on May 23, was speaking to the media during a visit to the Toa Payoh Ridge BTO project in his Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. Home owners at the 920-unit project in Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, which launched in February 2020, started collecting the keys to their flats last week. Mr Chee said his ministry will continue to have a strong supply of new BTO flats, building on the work of former National Development Minister Desmond Lee. For instance, HDB had exceeded its target of launching 100,000 BTO flats from 2021 to 2025. HDB is also on track to deliver the keys to 19,000 households in 2025 , with 7,000 households having collected the keys to their homes to date, he added. Mr Chee, who was transport minister, said he also hopes to help residents in new BTO projects - including developments located a distance from the town centre or amenities - have a better experience when they move in. He said he has asked Senior Minister of State for National Development Sun Xueling to look into this. Another area Mr Chee intends to prioritise is the sprucing up of older HDB estates so that they are 'good homes for residents of all ages'. He pointed to the Remaking Our Heartlands programme, which aims to renew older estates to make neighborhoods more sustainable and vibrant, as well as the Silver Upgrading Programme, which provides senior-friendly improve ments to older precincts that already underwent upgrading in the past. These efforts require a 'dedicated focus' by various ministries that have to work closely together, he added. Asked about the HDB lease decay issue and the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (Vers), Mr Chee said: 'This is something we will study carefully and, at an appropriate time, we will share more details.' Lease decay is the erosion of a flat's value as the end of its 99-year lease approaches. The proposed solution, Vers, which has yet to be rolled out, will allow owners of flats aged 70 years and older to vote for the Government to buy back their homes before their leases run out. On rising resale prices and million-dollar flat transactions, Mr Chee said one of the ways to address this is to increase the supply of BTO flats, and to give the market time to adjust to the higher supply of flats that have reached their MOP from 2026. Mr Chee said the cooling measure introduced in September 2022, which imposed a 15-month wait-out period on private property downgraders who want to buy a resale flat, is not meant to be permanent. 'I hope that when the situation improves… we are able to consider reviewing or even removing this restriction,' he said. Mr Chee was also asked for his thoughts on his switch from the transport ministry to the national development ministry. 'Indeed, both transport and MND are hot portfolios,' he said, noting that there are similarities between the two ministries. 'They both require long-term planning and they both require us to work closely with the tripartite partners in our industry, and also the unions,' he added. The tripartite partners are the Government, unions and employers. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
The Star
6 days ago
- Health
- The Star
How a Singaporean managed his agoraphobia without hospital treatment
SINGAPORE: After working from home as a call centre operator for four months during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, Mohamed Rashath Mohamed Riyad stepped out of his family's Housing Board flat to go to his workplace, and found himself breaking out in a cold sweat. The sweating continued as he took the lift to the void deck and walked to the nearby MRT station. It left the young man, who is now 24, slightly confused as it was not a warm day. While waiting for the train, he felt a little woozy. And the train, when it came, was packed. 'I was near the door and then, everything became blurry. I couldn't quite breathe,' he said. He scrambled to get off at the next stop. His heart was racing, and he felt like he would pass out. Rashath, an only child, called his mother. They went to the polyclinic near their home in Kallang, thinking it might be long Covid, as he had had a recent bout of Covid-19. The doctor there gave him flu medication and told him to monitor his symptoms. The next day, he took a cab to work, only to find the symptoms returning once he stepped out of the vehicle. His company consented to him working from home, but it did not solve his problem. The rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and cold sweat would return each time he tried to leave his home. It left him more and more unsettled and in low spirits. 'I love to drive, but I couldn't drive. I couldn't exercise, go out, bowl, cycle.' After two months, he sought help again and was referred for a heart scan. When that came back clear, the polyclinic referred him to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). In April 2022, about five months after his symptoms first surfaced, an IMH psychiatrist diagnosed him with agoraphobia, a disorder characterised by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe, with no easy way to escape. 'When I was first diagnosed with it, I was super depressed, I had no mood to do anything, no appetite. I didn't eat anything for two days,' he said. 'I was thinking: Why is life so difficult? What's going to happen to me? It took me a while to accept it as agoraphobia,' he said, adding that his mother, 59, an operations assistant, was 'shell-shocked'. His father, 55, a supervisor, could not understand how his son was so affected. But Rashath was determined to do something about his condition. He stopped working to focus on his recovery. IMH referred him to Viriya Community Services, a social service agency with a centre located in Potong Pasir, where he met Dr Timothy Singham, a clinical psychologist, in June 2022. Over the next eight months or so, Dr Singham treated him using cognitive behavioural therapy – a proven type of psychotherapy that helps individuals manage their mental health difficulties through changing their thoughts and behaviour. Their sessions took place mostly outdoors – in the HDB neighbourhood near Viriya's centre in Potong Pasir, at Potong Pasir MRT station, and at the bowling alley that Rashath used to frequent. At these outdoor therapy sessions, Dr Singham helped Rashath understand why he experienced certain symptoms, and how exposing himself to situations that trigger fear would help him overcome them. He found the therapy so helpful that he was able to stop taking the antidepressant medication he had been prescribed by IMH. Dr Singham said agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder that is often best treated in the spaces where the individual experiences feelings of being trapped, helpless or embarrassed. But there is a shortage of trained clinical psychologists who can work with patients in the community using such evidence-based treatment methods, said Dr Singham, who had prior experience treating individuals with agoraphobia in Britain, where he was clinically trained. That could change, as Singapore focuses efforts on improving community support for people with mental health issues. The pandemic shone a spotlight on mental health as an area that needed more attention. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is expanding the community-based mental health support teams – Community Intervention Teams, and Community Resource, Engagement and Support Teams. Social service agencies are also looking at new ways to help. One of them, Touch, has launched a suicide intervention app through which it engages clients to keep them safe. It also now offers marriage intervention for couples in marital difficulties or post-divorce. And, in an unusual move for a social service agency, Touch is looking to hire a psychiatrist to help its clients, given the several months' wait at public institutions, as well as the high cost of private-sector services. It is also looking to hire two more clinical psychologists to add to its current team of three, said Andrea Chan, group head of Touch Counselling and Psychological Services and deputy director of Touch Mental Wellness. Chan said community agencies have been getting funding to build up mental health services, and a national mental health strategy has established a structure that helps alleviate the hospital load. However, she said, a central system needs to be created to link hospitals, primary care and social service agencies to make sure that patients get the care they need in a timely fashion. A spokesperson for MOH told The Straits Times on May 13 that the ministry will continue to work with the Agency for Integrated Care, polyclinics, general practitioners and community mental health partners to expand and enhance mental health services in the community. It wants people to be able to seek help early and receive it close to home. In Rashath's case, receiving treatment close to home was a godsend, as he would have found it unnerving to travel to IMH. It was night and day, he said. 'Going into IMH, I knew I was walking into a hospital that can treat severely ill mental health patients.' In contrast, Viriya's Potong Pasir centre, located at an HDB void deck, offered a calming, normal and familiar environment, he added. As Rashath learnt more about his phobia, he became more adept at confronting his fears. After about six months, he decided to return to driving, which he had always enjoyed before. He said his condition arose because he had developed an irregular heart rhythm during a Covid-19 episode. 'The heart healed, but the mind still thinks the heart can't handle it,' he said. 'When you go out, and you walk or climb stairs, your heartbeat goes up, and the mind kept trying to prevent the heart issue from worsening, lest a heart attack happened.' Agoraphobia can develop as a complication of panic attacks. Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, leading them to worry about having another attack. 'He (Dr Singham) taught me about this hill of anxiety... Every time you conquer something, you can go down the hill and your anxiety will go down. This anxiety won't last forever.' Rashath rejoined the workforce in March 2023, after his treatment ended, and is now working as an operations manager for a medical equipment company. If he had left his agoraphobia untreated, it could have badly affected his quality of life. Dr Singham said that some individuals with untreated agoraphobia remain unemployed and unable to leave the house for decades. 'Often, such conditions are strongly associated with shame, perhaps particularly so in our Asian culture, and therefore, greater efforts are needed to reduce the stigma, and increase the awareness and the accessibility to psychological interventions for such conditions,' he said. For Rashath, it has been a journey of recovery and understanding himself better. Should some form of anxiety return one day, he will be aware of the symptoms and know how to manage them. He tells himself a phrase that he often repeated during his recovery. 'Failure isn't fatal, and it isn't final,' he said. Success in life can be achieved, and if you never try, you will never know, he added. - The Straits Times/ANN
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
Community care: How one man managed his agoraphobia without hospital treatment
Agoraphobia is a disorder characterised by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe, with no easy way to escape. ILLUSTRATION: SOH HWEE YI, ADOBE STOCK No health without mental health Community care: How one man managed his agoraphobia without hospital treatment SINGAPORE - After working from home as a call centre operator for four months during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, Mr Mohamed Rashath Mohamed Riyad stepped out of his family's Housing Board flat to go to his workplace, and found himself breaking out in a cold sweat. The sweating continued as he took the lift to the void deck and walked to the nearby MRT station. It left the young man, who is now 24, slightly confused as it was not a warm day. While waiting for the train, he felt a little woozy. And the train, when it came, was packed. 'I was near the door and then, everything became blurry. I couldn't quite breathe,' he said. He scrambled to get off at the next stop. His heart was racing, and he felt like he would pass out. Mr Rashath, an only child, called his mother. They went to the polyclinic near their home in Kallang, thinking it might be long Covid, as he had had a recent bout of Covid-19. The doctor there gave him flu medication and told him to monitor his symptoms. The next day, he took a cab to work, only to find the symptoms returning once he stepped out of the vehicle. His company consented to him working from home, but it did not solve his problem. The rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and cold sweat would return each time he tried to leave his home. It left him more and more unsettled and in low spirits. 'I love to drive, but I couldn't drive. I couldn't exercise, go out, bowl, cycle.' After two months, he sought help again and was referred for a heart scan. When that came back clear, the polyclinic referred him to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). In April 2022, about five months after his symptoms first surfaced, an IMH psychiatrist diagnosed him with agoraphobia, a disorder characterised by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe, with no easy way to escape. 'When I was first diagnosed with it, I was super depressed, I had no mood to do anything, no appetite. I didn't eat anything for two days,' he said. 'I was thinking: Why is life so difficult? What's going to happen to me? It took me a while to accept it as agoraphobia,' he said, adding that his mother, 59, an operations assistant, was 'shell-shocked'. His father, 55, a supervisor, could not understand how his son was so affected. But Mr Rashath was determined to do something about his condition. He stopped working to focus on his recovery. IMH referred him to Viriya Community Services, a social service agency with a centre located in Potong Pasir, where he met Dr Timothy Singham, a clinical psychologist, in June 2022. Over the next eight months or so, Dr Singham treated him using cognitive behavioural therapy – a proven type of psychotherapy that helps individuals manage their mental health difficulties through changing their thoughts and behaviour. Their sessions took place mostly outdoors – in the HDB neighbourhood near Viriya's centre in Potong Pasir, at Potong Pasir MRT station, and at the bowling alley that Mr Rashath used to frequent. At these outdoor therapy sessions, Dr Singham helped Mr Rashath understand why he experienced certain symptoms, and how exposing himself to situations that trigger fear would help him overcome them. He found the therapy so helpful that he was able to stop taking the antidepressant medication he had been prescribed by IMH. Mr Mohamed Rashath Mohamed Riyad (left) with Dr Timothy Singham. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO Dr Singham said agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder that is often best treated in the spaces where the individual experiences feelings of being trapped, helpless or embarrassed. But there is a shortage of trained clinical psychologists who can work with patients in the community using such evidence-based treatment methods, said Dr Singham, who had prior experience treating individuals with agoraphobia in Britain, where he was clinically trained. That could change, as Singapore focuses efforts on improving community support for people with mental health issues. The pandemic shone a spotlight on mental health as an area that needed more attention. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is expanding the community-based mental health support teams – Community Intervention Teams, and Community Resource, Engagement and Support Teams. Social service agencies are also looking at new ways to help. One of them, Touch, has launched a suicide intervention app through which it engages clients to keep them safe. It also now offers marriage intervention for couples in marital difficulties or post-divorce. And, in an unusual move for a social service agency, Touch is looking to hire a psychiatrist to help its clients, given the several months' wait at public institutions, as well as the high cost of private-sector services. It is also looking to hire two more clinical psychologists to add to its current team of three, said Ms Andrea Chan, group head of Touch Counselling and Psychological Services and deputy director of Touch Mental Wellness. Ms Chan said community agencies have been getting funding to build up mental health services, and a national mental health strategy has established a structure that helps alleviate the hospital load. However, she said, a central system needs to be created to link hospitals, primary care and social service agencies to make sure that patients get the care they need in a timely fashion. A spokesperson for MOH told The Straits Times on May 13 that the ministry will continue to work with the Agency for Integrated Care, polyclinics, general practitioners and community mental health partners to expand and enhance mental health services in the community. It wants people to be able to seek help early and receive it close to home. In Mr Rashath's case, receiving treatment close to home was a godsend, as he would have found it unnerving to travel to IMH. It was night and day, he said. 'Going into IMH, I knew I was walking into a hospital that can treat severely ill mental health patients.' In contrast, Viriya's Potong Pasir centre, located at an HDB void deck, offered a calming, normal and familiar environment, he added. As Mr Rashath learnt more about his phobia, he became more adept at confronting his fears. After about six months, he decided to return to driving, which he had always enjoyed before. He said his condition arose because he had developed an irregular heart rhythm during a Covid-19 episode. 'The heart healed, but the mind still thinks the heart can't handle it,' he said. 'When you go out, and you walk or climb stairs, your heartbeat goes up, and the mind kept trying to prevent the heart issue from worsening, lest a heart attack happened.' Agoraphobia can develop as a complication of panic attacks. Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, leading them to worry about having another attack. 'He (Dr Singham) taught me about this hill of anxiety... Every time you conquer something, you can go down the hill and your anxiety will go down. This anxiety won't last forever.' Mr Rashath rejoined the workforce in March 2023, after his treatment ended, and is now working as an operations manager for a medical equipment company. If he had left his agoraphobia untreated, it could have badly affected his quality of life. Dr Singham said that some individuals with untreated agoraphobia remain unemployed and unable to leave the house for decades. 'Often, such conditions are strongly associated with shame, perhaps particularly so in our Asian culture, and therefore, greater efforts are needed to reduce the stigma, and increase the awareness and the accessibility to psychological interventions for such conditions,' he said. For Mr Rashath, it has been a journey of recovery and understanding himself better. Should some form of anxiety return one day, he will be aware of the symptoms and know how to manage them. He tells himself a phrase that he often repeated during his recovery. 'Failure isn't fatal, and it isn't final,' he said. Success in life can be achieved, and if you never try, you will never know, he added. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
