PRE-SCHOOL CENTRES AND CHILDCARE CENTRES (Preventive measures on spread of SARS)

Dr Michael Lim Chun Leng asked the Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports what measures are being taken at pre-school centres and childcare centres to (i) educate parents on SARS; (ii) prevent the spread of SARS; and (iii) manage children with fever or cough who are suspected of having SARS.

The Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports (Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Sir, as the regulator of child care centres, my Ministry has worked relentlessly to put in place strict precautionary measures and procedures to minimise the spread of SARS.

The children in child care centres are very young and need close supervision. My Ministry has therefore drawn up a comprehensive set of Standard Operating Procedures in consultation with the Ministry of Health and the major child care operators. All 630 child care centre operators were briefed on the procedures before the centres re-opened on 16th April 2003.

The details of our procedures can be found at the MCDS websites www.mcds.gov.sg and www.childcarelink.gov.sg. Allow me just to highlight a few key points, Sir. Parents are reminded not to send their children to the centres if their children are ill. Besides the health declaration forms, parents have been issued with advisories to monitor their children's temperature and health every morning.

Clear procedures have been drawn up to handle children or staff who fall sick while in the centre. We will close the centres for 10 days if sick children or staff are found to be suspected or probable SARS patients.

We have advised student care operators, who provide before and after school care services for primary school children, to use the same procedures as we have for child-care centres. The People's Association, which runs playgroups and tuition classes, has adopted the procedures as well. As I have mentioned, my Ministry's procedures for child-care operators are available on our website for any pre-school service providers to use.

Besides procedures, MCDS has also developed a series of public communication programmes targeted at young children, parents and caregivers. Public education messages were carried in the four languages in the various media. Young children are taught, in a fun way, about basic hygiene. Information packs were distributed to every parent when the child-care centres re-opened.

Sir, I would like to conclude by reiterating that the effective control of SARS rests on individuals and parents of young children exercising social responsibility. For young children, the precautionary measures can only be effective if parents act responsibly and not allow their sick children to turn up in child-care centres or schools.