Organising clinical response: Assoc Prof Tham Kum Ying

Assoc Prof Tham Kum Ying, an Assistant Dean at NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, is an emergency physician in the Emergency Department of Singapore’s Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), which is at the forefront of dealing with emerging infections and communicable diseases.

TTSH Emergency Department started to install ground rules and operational changes the moment the first reports of the then-unnamed virus emerged from Wuhan, helping the hospital to be ready to face the new challenge even before Singapore confirmed its first case of COVID-19.

“What we learnt from SARS and H1N1 is that morale among the team is very important,” says Assoc Prof Tham. “Staff must be confident in knowing that protective personal equipment won’t run out when used as directed. They should also receive instructions that are timely, clear and actionable,” explains Assoc Prof Tham.