2020:

Acute outbreak control

Dr Muntasir Choudhury is a Consultant with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Sengkang General Hospital. Muntasir helped with swabbing and serology work at the dormitories. He made a video, which went viral. In the video, he took a loudhailer and spoke words of encouragement in Bengali to allay the fears of workers. This had an enormous impact on the migrant community. Muntasir continues to help in communication through translation and recording audio messages.  Muntasir reached out to Omar Faruque Shipon who runs a popular Facebook page catered towards Bengali speaking workers. He started helping Omar with translations of relevant news so that migrant workers could access them. He later brought together Omar and Dr Tam Wai Jia of Kitesong Global to help migrant workers with mental wellbeing through a program called “Keep Hope Alive”.

Fun fact: He is an amateur historian with an interest in world history.

Dr Hamid Razak is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and served as the Deputy Lead of the COVID-19 operations at Sengkang General Hospital. He has been working with migrant workers for a long time, especially those in the construction sector, so he understands their struggles and needs. When the first COVID-19 cluster at foreign worker dormitories was formed, Hamid wanted to contribute to the fight against COVID-19, which led him to get involved with My Brother SG. Since joining the team at My Brother SG, he has enjoyed interacting with like-minded people who work to ensure that health education is taken care of. He has found that the most rewarding part of his work is receiving appreciation from migrant brothers for going down to the dormitories.

Fun fact: Hamid acted in a soap opera on Vasantham in 2003. He was casted as a teenage delinquent who got involved in gang fights, but his casting was cut short as he had to enlist for National Service. As a result, his character was killed in the earlier episodes.

Dr Dennis Chia is a Consultant with the Department of Emergency Medicine at Sengkang General Hospital. He has been involved in raising awareness of the medical entitlements of Migrant Workers amongst Healthcare Workers, for which he won the Healthcare Humanity Award in 2020 for his efforts. Dr Dennis also received the top COVID-19 Superhero Award at the annual Singapore Health Quality Service Awards. When he heard about the opportunity to increase awareness and communication of the COVID-19 situation in the migrant worker dormitories, he readily decided to join My Brother SG. He is driven by hope – hope for a bright future where migrant workers are cared for and able to return to work.

Fun fact: Dennis cooked an 8-course dinner in a big cook-off.

Dr Louisa Sun is an Infectious Diseases doctor at Alexandra Hospital, NUHS. She provided continuous care for the migrant worker community during the peak of the outbreak in 2020. Louisa also led medical teams that took care of 4 dormitories in the West. Later on, she was part of the core medical team for BigBox Community Care Facility (CCF). She felt saddened by the hardships that migrant workers had to go through. However, she was even more encouraged and inspired by the courage and kindness she saw from this community. Louisa continues to serve the migrant worker community by finding sustainable and practical ways to improve their health. Louisa also co-hosts a webinar called “COVID-19: Updates From Singapore”, which talks about the latest developments and global perspectives on the public health, political, social, economic and psychological implications of the pandemic.

Dr Benjamin Kuan is the CEO of HealthServe, a healthcare charity that has been supporting migrant workers since 2006. A family physician by training and at heart, Ben holds an MBA from the joint UCLA-NUS GEMBA programme and a Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine from NUS. Prior to joining the social services sector, he spent a decade of his professional life with a health technology and medical clinic group that provides managed care and workplace health solutions for ecosystem players. United by a passion for education as a means to promote upstream healthcare, Ben and his non-profit have been partnering with My Brother SG to serve the migrant community. He finds it rewarding to see migrant workers taking charge of their health and stepping up to give back to their own communities as health ambassadors. He believes that we can make a lasting impact by equipping, empowering and uplifting marginalised communities.

Fun fact: Ben loves cats and motorcycles, but not cats on motorcycles!

Dr Adrian is a Senior Consultant in Psychiatry and Aviation Medicine who practices within SAF's Psychological Care Centre, as well as at IMH where he is a Visiting Consultant. His practice focus is in the mental health of adolescents and young adults, as well as the occupational aspects of psychiatry. He is also interested in the interface between spirituality and psychological well-being.

Fun Fact: Adrian destresses by going for peaceful runs around green areas on our little red dot. Although his pace is rather slow, he hopes to eventually visit every trail one day.

Dr Yee Ming is a senior consultant and the chief of the Department of Mood and Anxiety Disorders at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Singapore. With more than 11 years of experience, Dr Yee Ming set up the mood disorder clinic in IMH in 2010, which specialises in treating treatment-resistant mood disorders. This eventually grew into the Department of Mood and Anxiety. Dr Yee Ming and his team worked hard to adapt and to make accessible various treatments and therapies during the circuit breaker period.

Fun fact: He has 2 rabbits and enjoys cooking.

Dr Priya is an associate consultant at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Singapore. Being a Bharatanatyam dancer for the last 26 years, Dr Priya explores mental illness through dance. She has been involved in multiple efforts to raise awareness about mental health issues and the experiences of individuals with mental health disorders and their caregivers, as well as reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness through dance. Dr Priya strongly believes that clinicians should care humanely for the vulnerable populations they serve, and that humanities education is essential to developing empathy in clinical practitioners.

Fun fact: Dr Priya is an amateur cook and gardener. Her interests in cooking and gardening grew during COVID-19.

Rachel is the programme manager and administrator of My Brother SG. She is a motivated and resourceful individual who enjoys planning and executing physical and online programmes. Since joining the team at My Brother SG, she has organized many meaningful campaigns to educate, engage and empower hundreds of migrant workers. She hopes to improve the physical and mental health of our migrant worker friends through regular health and wellness themed outreach and engagement initiatives.

Lydia is a freelance graphic designer who is passionate about designing material that helps others, especially those who are marginalized. She works with My Brother SG to design engaging health-related content. She hopes that her work can help migrant workers in their journey towards better health.