200,000 students get thermometers

ABOUT 200,000 primary school students in Singapore have received digital thermometers from the Government for daily temperature checks to prevent the spread of the deadly SARS virus.

ABOUT 200,000 primary school students in Singapore have received digital thermometers from the Government for daily temperature checks to prevent the spread of the deadly SARS virus.In another pioneering effort to fight the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Government is spending almost $US3 million ($4.8 million) to equip half a million students up to pre-university level with thermometers. Only students from primary one to four, aged six to nine, got their thermometers today, with the rest expected to get theirs by the end of May as more supplies arrive, officials said. Singapore has been praised for its sweeping and tough action against SARS, including mass quarantines, school closures and pre-departure screenings, which have been replicated in other, affected countries. Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last week that every Singaporean household – estimated at roughly 923,000 as of 2000 – would get thermometers by June so families could monitor their temperatures daily. In the absence of a diagnostic kit for SARS, temperature checks have been a frontline defence measure in the battle against the disease, as fever is a key symptom and feverish individuals are usually infectious. A person running a fever of 38 degrees centigrade or higher is regarded as a potential SARS cases. At least 23 people have died of SARS in Singapore out of more than 200 cases recorded, making it one of the most badly affected areas along with China, Hong Kong and Canada. From today, students will be required to take their temperatures twice daily and record the readings in a logbook issued with the thermometers. Any students who have fever will have their parents called and be sent home, authorities said. At suburban Gongshang Primary School, students spent the first hour of their class familiarising themselves with their new digital thermometers, which measures body heat by putting the tip under the tongue. Teachers went through the correct procedures with pupils. Jimmy Sng, a heavy machine operator who dropped off his son at the school, said he was encouraged by the Government’s aggressive approach. “This is very good because now at least we know that no sick child with a fever can go undetected,” he told AFP, adding that parents should do temperature checks on their children as well at home. Parent volunteer Wong Chee Hong, who helped distribute the thermometers, said logbooks would help in “contact tracing” if anyone falls ill. Education Minister Teo Chee Hean, who led the distribution of the thermometers at Gongshang Primary, said he hoped this initiative would make students more conscious of their social responsibilities. “We start with the objective of wanting every child to take social responsibility for his own health,” he said. However, Teo warned against complacency despite recent comments by the World Health Organization that the SARS epidemic might have peaked in Singapore. “We always have to maintain a high level of vigilance. We hope that this level of vigilance that we have taken in the schools will flow back to the households,” he said. All members of the country’s armed forces were issued thermometers and required to take their temperatures twice daily. (Source: The Australian, April 30, 2003)