SGH medical team comes home after Dhaka mission to help treat burn victims from fighter jet crash
SINGAPORE - A team of nurses and doctors from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) that went to Bangladesh to help treat burn victims of a fatal fighter jet crash has returned home on Aug 1.The eight-member team, comprising five nurses and three doctors, flew to Dhaka in stages, after an air force jet crashed into a school compound on July 21.More than 30 people were killed, and another 170 or so were injured. About 80 victims were hospitalised for a raft of injuries including serious burns. Many of the victims were children.A call for help came from the Bangladesh High Commission office in Singapore, asking for medical reinforcements, said Associate Professor Ong Yee Siang, who is SGH head of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery.On July 22, a team headed to Dhaka, led by SGH senior consultant Chong Si Jack and comprising nurses Jovan Lim and Poon Lai Kuan, as well as SingHealth international collaboration office director Vijaya Rao.On July 24, a second group left for the Bangladeshi capital, this one comprising doctors Jolin Wong and Irene Wong, and nurse clinicians Chester Chow, Wei Guiru and Tan Kwee Yuen.