MEDICAL

IMPACT HEALTH

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused a global lockdown in 2020 , it seemed as though the whole world would come to a complete standstill . People were mostly restricted within their homes , and the streets seemed virtually empty . Yet the world still needed to turn , people still needed food and groceries , hospitals needed medical supplies , and the supply chain needed to keep going . Society has spent a good amount of time giving well-deserved credit to the healthcare workers of the world who were dealing with the pandemic , but there was a group of people who were largely overlooked — the maritime workers .

Spare a thought for the ships delivering your PPE , N95 masks , and medications . The ones delivering oil to be refined and used in power stations . The ones laden with containers filled with your online shopping . During the pandemic , the International Labour Organisation more than doubled accepted contract lengths from 11 months to 23 months . Due to the difficulty of ship crew workers signing off as a result of closed borders , there were cases where crews managed to sign off only after 27 months . Imagine staying onboard a ship , travelling from country to country , but never being allowed to even go on shoreleave , having to deal with intermittent internet connectivity due to being in the middle of the ocean , and not being able to see one ’ s family for 27 months . COVID restrictions meant that many

Eugene Tan , Dr Vera , Dr Nocholas Chia , Dr Winston Lee

maritime crew members weren ’ t even able to seek medical attention for nonlife-threatening conditions .

In the May 2020 , Impact Health collaborated with the Singapore Shipping Association and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore to provide telemedicine services for the maritime industry . Originally a medical concierge company , Impact Health had developed their proprietary telemedicine platform for their overseas patients . With some quick tweaks , the company was able to customise the platform such that the many vessels stopping in Singaporean waters ( over 2,000 per day at the time ) were able connect through the platform for teleconsultations with the doctors on land .

The service that Impact Health ’ s platform provided made it possible for many ship crew members to receive medical attention for non-lifethreatening conditions , medications to be sent onboard ( via drones due to safedistancing measures ), and for doctors to test and certify ship crew to be free of COVID-19 symptoms so that they would be allowed to disembark their ships and finally return home to their families . At the height of the pandemic , Singapore was one of the few countries that set up special immigration channels allowing maritime crew to fly home and became the major sign-off hub for ship crew .

Impact Health has been awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Maritime Health by Global Health , but this would not have been possible without the efforts of the Singaporean government to ensure that the maritime workers , who are the lifeblood of the global supply chain , were well-protected and given every assistance possible . Credit , however , should be given to not only government officials , but also to the many shipping agents , chartering agents , and crew manning agents who had to deal with ever-changing pandemic restrictions and rules across borders . All of them made immeasurable contributions to ensuring that the maritime industry and the supply chain continued to keep turning . Impact Health ’ s contribution would not have been possible without the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore , Singapore Shipping Association , Seamen Organisation of Singapore , and Singapore Maritime Officer ’ s Union .

116 ISSUE 5 | 2022 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com