Floods

I shall be talking about the recent floods in Singapore, and who was supposed to be responsible for it. This will be my last blog post for this term considering ACE deadline is by tonight midnight. And I know this was today's CA topic, but since I'm not involved and since I don't have to role-play any character, I'm airing my opinions on my blog, and my opinions should be quite fair.

Firstly, why did Orchard Road flood? Orchard Road had excellent canal and drainage systems, but on the day of the flood, though some sheer twist of fate, the torrential rain, which was said to have been more than 60% of the monthly rainfall for June in a single day, washed all the branches and rubbish into a main drain 2.7 meters in diameter drain and clogged it up, while the torrential rain then consequently flooded Orchard Road. This was the official statement that had been released by PUB following the flood, with them claiming that they had been completely caught off-guard by the flood. Millions of dollars was lost in the flood, with many shop vendors losing their stocks and having their shops destroyed by the flood, which was knee deep and even worse for basement levels.

Now with the summary of the incident behind, whose fault was it to blame then? Is it the government, the citizens, PUB or Mother Nature? Much of the debris that had contributed to the clogging up of the drain was the rubbish that had been strewn around Orchard Road. The rubbish contributed by the citizens shopping at Orchard Road and if it had not been for the rubbish, the drain may have not been clogged up, resulting in the prevention of this flood that had resulted in damages worth up to millions of dollars. So was it the inconsideration of citizens that had led to this flooding? Alas, PUB is at fault here as well. Should they had put up countermeasures to this scenario, or had performed checks more often on the drainage systems, the flood could have been prevented, or at least it would not have been as severe as this. But am I going on the wrong track? Most of the reasons I had laid down was based on the claims by PUB that the flood was because of the blocked drain. But shortly after this flood, another minor one happened again, and this time, all drains had been properly cleared. So, was the flooding not just because of that blocked drain, but also because of the inadequacies of our drainage and canal systems, despite the governments claims that they are world-class? I admit, that making Singapore flood free is practically impossible, and that we should be happy that our floods were relatively minor compared to that of China's, but one should always strive for the better, and so, the Government should think of ways to combat the increasing threat of flooding following increased climate change. Is our canal systems not good enough now? Do we have to sacrifice some space to construct more drains and canals so that future flood can be averted?

I leave you with this questions, and an interesting video on the flooding that I had found on Stomp. (It is a Hitler parody) http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/403170/hitler_hit_by_orchard_road_flood.html

Bijani Twins

I know this is quite an old topic, but after receiving a few article on this topic by our AAT teacher and asked to write a personal response on the matter, I decided I might as well post my personal response here for everyone to see. Feel free to argue and debate with me, I'm not always correct. As a matter of fact, I'm mostly wrong. This way, I can improve on my not-very-good personal response.

After I had read through all the 6 articles on the Bijani twins, I feel that all 6 of them have one main issue revolving around all of them – Was what the doctors did justified? The controversy mainly revolves around the fact that the doctors had taken on this operation knowing that there was only a 50% chance of them being saved and successfully separated. Some people feel that taking on the operation was a violation of part of the Hippocratic Oath, a violation of medical ethics in an attempt to push the boundaries of medical achievement. Others feel that what they did was justified, and that they did not violate medical ethics in the process. Here is what I thought about this incident and my opinions.

Personally, I feel that the doctors did no wrong and should not have been held accountable for what happened to the twins. They did what they were supposed to do; they tried their best in a marathon surgery more than 20 hours long. And it was by no means the doctor’s fault that the operation failed. The twins had full knowledge of the risks involved in such a surgery and they had agreed to it. With the patient’s consent, is it the doctor’s fault? If the doctors were to be held responsible for every single operation with a risk that failed, then no more operation would have been taken. What operation doesn’t carry a significant amount of risk? Take a brain surgery for example. There may be only 10% chance of the person’s survival, but do you not go through the operation, knowing the fact that its confirmed that you’ll die if you don’t? With the patient’s consent, the doctor’s should not be held responsible, as that was what the patients wanted and agreed to undertake. If you were to say this goes against the Hippocratic Oath, are you going to not do any operation with risks, even if the patient wants you to? So, on the issue of the Hippocratic Oath, I feel that it is outdated in the modern society. It should be changed to doctors should TRY THEIR BEST, instead of must.

Now onto the topic of violating medical ethics to push the boundaries of medical achievement. Ignoring whether what the doctor’s was ethical or not, would anything ever have been accomplished if we were to stick to the norms and never venture beyond what was considered acceptable? As the saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Many medical accomplishments would never have been possible if we did not dare to take these risks. What the doctor did may have resulted in the death of the Bijani twins, but I’m sure the doctors gained much valuable knowledge in this operation, and this may result in the saving of thousands more people in the future.

Thus, I feel that what the doctors did was entirely justified, and that what they did may save many more lives in the future.

And that concludes this blog post.