MSF will continue to build on collaborative approach to supporting families: Masagos
MSF will continue to build on collaborative approach to supporting families: Masagos
SINGAPORE – Shortly after getting married in 2021, social worker Eleanore James and her husband Timothy James started trying for a child – something Mr James had always wanted.
But two months in, she experienced a sharp abdominal pain which landed her in the hospital. A battery of tests found cancer in both her ovaries.
She said: 'My oncologist told us the very devastating news that it is not possible for us to have children.
'I felt like our world crashed. I had to make a difficult decision to propose an annulment to Timothy since we were still newly married.'
But Mr James refused: 'I did not even want to reconsider. I remembered my wedding vows towards her – in sickness and in health.'
On May 31, the couple's story was featured in an interactive exhibition at the launch of this year's National Family Festival.
The showcase features a selection of stories about the ups and downs of family life submitted by over 500 families for a campaign run by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) called 'Real Families, Real Stories'.
Mrs Eleanore James and her husband Timothy James participated in MSF's "Real Families, Real Stories" campaign because they wanted to bring hope to other couples.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF TIMOTHY AND ELEANOR JAMES
Mrs James, now 36, and Mr James, a 43-year-old halfway house operations assistant, chose to participate because they wanted to bring hope to other couples.
The launch event was held at the Singapore Expo, and marks the start of a series of events across the island in June.
Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli gave a speech at the festival's launch – his first since the general election and being sworn in on May 23.
He reiterated the Government's upcoming plans to support families, such as the increase in shared parental leave from 26 to 30 weeks in April 2026, and more benefits for couples who have two or more children announced at the 2025 Budget.
He said: 'Family is critical to our journey in our life, and also as a nation... As our society evolves, so do the needs of our families. They change, and therefore we must ensure that familial support systems remain relevant and robust.'
These moves were implemented as part of a plan launched three years ago – 'A Singapore Made for Families 2025', he said.
'This marked a pivotal shift in how we support and uplift families. Through the plan, we established a collaborative approach, where we integrate government support across every stage of family life, to ensure that families have a comprehensive ecosystem of support.'
The launch event for this year's National Family Festival at the Singapore Expo marks the start of a series of events across the island in June.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
MSF will continue to build on the progress of the last three years, Mr Masagos added.
At the Forward Singapore engagement sessions, many shared their hopes and concerns for the future, including in areas such as cost of living, housing accessibility and affordability, and fostering more family-friendly practices, he noted.
'We have heard you, and will continue to enhance our support for families,' he said.
The Government's vision is to build a Singapore made for families, but this is not something it can do alone, Mr Masagos said.
'We cannot realise this vision on our own. Throughout the decades, we have seen community participation and partnership playing a significant role in the success of our nation, and therefore in fulfilling this vision.'
With the partnership between the community, corporates and the Government, efforts are amplified and more lives are reached, he added.
'We all have a part to play in this journey. Let us continue to build a Singapore in which every family feels valued and supported, wherever they may be in life,' he said.
One family at the event was retired contractor Toh Chee Keong, 57, and housewife Vu Thi Sam, 42, with their six children aged between four and 18.
Mr Toh said having a large family is a joy, but good finances are the most important ingredient in making it work.
He said: 'I'm lucky enough that I can support my family... We have two helpers to do the housework, which really lessens our burden. So we just enjoy watching our children and playing with them.'
Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Straits Times
Acute psychiatry services to be expanded: MOH
Find out what's new on ST website and app. SINGAPORE - Acute psychiatry services will be expanded across all healthcare clusters to meet increasing demand, so that more patients will have greater access to help when they urgently need it. Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Health said this in a speech at the Singapore Mental Health Conference at Singapore Expo) on July 16. Mental health services within acute hospitals remain an important and significant touchpoint for individuals with acute mental health needs requiring specialist care and for those in crisis, he said. Acute psychiatry services include inpatient and outpatient services. Currently, inpatient psychiatric care in Singapore is available at six out of 11 public hospitals. These are the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Tan Tock Seng Hospital, National University Hospital, Changi General Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and Sengkang Hospital. Outpatient specialist mental health services are available in IMH and all acute hospitals. Dr Koh also launched a practice guide for Singapore's tiered care model for mental health. This guide was jointly developed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) , Ministry of Social and Family Development, and Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) , with input from numerous stakeholders. The guide is available on the MOH website. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore July BTO launch to have over 4,600 balance flats, 2 BTO projects with under than 3-year wait Business US tariffs may last well after Trump; crucial for countries to deepen trade ties: SM Lee Asia Indonesia police detain 12 suspects over baby trafficking ring linked to Singapore Singapore 'Kpods broke our marriage, shattered our children': Woman on husband's vape addiction Singapore Las Vegas Sands' new development part of S'pore's broader, more ambitious transformation: PM Wong Multimedia Telling the Singapore story for 180 years Life Walking for exercise? Here are tips on how to do it properly Singapore 'Nobody deserves to be alone': Why Mummy and Acha have fostered over 20 children in the past 22 years The guide aims to standardise assessment methods and referral procedures across service providers based on the intensity and stability of clients' symptoms, and the types of care required . For example, a Community Outreach Team (Crest) – a Tier 2 service under the national strategy – may refer a distressed individual with moderate mental health needs to a Community Intervention Team (Comit), which is a Tier 3 service, if a standardised assessment tool has determined that the client requires further diagnosis and/or psychosocial intervention, explained Dr Koh. With the practice guide, there will be greater consistency in how service providers deliver care and help their clients navigate the mental health ecosystem. To begin with , the practice guide focuses on the management of depression, anxiety and suicidality, and may be expanded to cover other less common mental health conditions in the future, he said. In addition, MOH will roll out a pocket guide for members of the public to more easily identify the types of mental health support and services available. Dr Koh said more details will be provided at a later date. The 8th edition of Singapore Mental Health Conference will run from July 16-17, with a heavy focus on digital mental health and artificial is jointly organised by IMH, National Council of Social Service, AIC , and the Health Promotion Board.
New Paper
3 days ago
- New Paper
Legal agility needed to tackle drug-laced vapes in Singapore: Experts
Medical experts have called for legal agility to tackle vaping, which they say has evolved into a harmful and dangerous scourge with more drug-laced e-vaporisers detected. Their comments come in the wake of an announcement on July 12 by the Government, which signalled the possibility of tougher enforcement laws to tackle vaping amid a spike in seizures of e-vaporisers laced with the anaesthetic etomidate. Mr Yip Hon Weng, MP for Yio Chu Kang SMC, who agreed that enforcement laws need to be enhanced, noted that Singapore already has some of the world's toughest drug laws. "But as the landscape evolves, so must our legal tools. "There is perhaps scope to go further - for example, by explicitly including combo drug-vape products under the Poisons Act, and granting the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) clearer jurisdiction the moment drug traces are detected," he said. There have been similar legal updates in the past, Mr Yip said, adding that when Subutex and glue sniffing became threats, the law evolved to empower CNB with the tools to respond. The same legislative approach can and should apply to drug-laced vapes, he said. "Our laws should empower swift updates to controlled substance lists - not wait for the next tragedy to force a response," added Mr Yip. Singapore's laws around synthetic drugs, or new psychoactive substances (NPS), were amended in June 2024 to regulate them based on their effects rather than specific chemical structures. Further amendments came into effect in 2025 to tackle new compounds that continue to be detected each year. Professor Teo Yik-Ying, dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said current laws need to also keep up with the technology used to deliver synthetic drugs. "Our narcotics laws need to be updated to capture some of these new changes in technology, where the delivery system now is using e-cigarettes and vapes," he said. "So, effectively, if I am a police officer and I catch someone with a vape, and I detect that the vape cartridge is actually a Kpod... the person is not just caught for vaping, but also caught for possession of narcotics. "Suddenly... you will realise that the penalty increases so significantly that people now have a fear of just taking Kpods." Although vaping has been banned in Singapore since 2018, the Health Sciences Authority still seized more than $41 million worth of e-vaporisers and their related components between January 2024 and March 2025. This is a significant spike from the $95,460 worth of seizures across 2019. In the first nine months of 2024, about 9,680 people were caught using or possessing vapes. This is more than the 7,838 people caught in the whole of 2023. Assistant Professor Yvette van der Eijk from the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health said that what has encouraged the spread is the marketing of vaping products from other countries. "If an influencer from, say, Indonesia promotes vaping products, that content can still reach young Singaporeans. "Also, for a policy to be effective, it must be properly enforced, and people must be aware of its rationale so that they accept the policy. Stronger enforcement in the community and more education would be helpful," said Prof van der Eijk. Starting young While some have argued for regulating vaping rather than an outright ban, recent studies in Britain have shown that regulations do little to limit access to e-vaporisers, including those laced with drugs. In Britain, vaping is legal for those above the age of 18, although disposable vapes have been banned across all age groups since June 1, 2025, to address environmental concerns and to protect young people from nicotine addiction. Professor Christopher Pudney from the University of Bath in Britain said his research showed that vapers there start young, between the ages of 13 and 16. "Around the middle of 2023, we started to see a lot of media reports in the UK of children collapsing in schools, associated with vaping," Prof Pudney told ST. "So, we just tracked those media reports. And it got to the point where there was almost one report every week of a child collapsing in school, which is obviously insane." His studies also showed that schoolchildren may be unknowingly smoking vapes spiked with synthetic cannabis, also known as Spice. The researchers in his team found that out of 596 vapes confiscated across 38 schools in England, one in six contained Spice. Prof Pudney, a biotechnology expert, said tests his team conducted have also picked up traces of heroin, MDMA (commonly found in Ecstasy) and ketamine in seized vaporisers. He used the world's first portable device, which is able to detect synthetic drugs in vapes in 30 seconds, to trace the chemicals. Despite these advancements, Prof Pudney said that when a drug in e-vaporisers is detected by the authorities there and made illegal, organised crime groups would subtly change the drug composition and flood the market with the new product. Mr Yip said he is aware that CNB and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) are already building up rapid-testing and toxicology capabilities to detect novel substances in vape liquids. Etomidate is known to cause a type of muscle spasm called myoclonus, which patients may describe as tremors, said Dr Clare Anne Fong, associate consultant at the Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at National University Hospital and Alexandra Hospital. It can also result in difficulties in processing thoughts and altered sensory experiences, such as numbness and tremors, she added. A person should seek medical attention when he displays such symptoms. "As the dosing is unpredictable, there is a risk of sudden unconsciousness and respiratory failure, which can be life-threatening," said Dr Fong. "Coughing out of blood is also dangerous as it can result in breathing difficulties and low oxygen levels, especially if the volume of blood is large." Dr Sharen Tian, a family physician at Raffles Medical Group, said that when etomidate is misused via vapes, it can induce euphoria and dissociation, leading to psychological dependence. "Abusing etomidate through vaping can lead to severe health complications," she told ST. "The identified adverse effects include nausea, muscle spasms, respiratory depression, seizures and psychosis." Initially, adult smokers seeking alternatives were the primary users of e-vaporisers, said Dr Tian. However, recent data indicates a surge in adolescent usage, with cases involving individuals as young as 13 years old. Mr Yip said that current standard hospital tests may not always pick up new synthetic substances unless they are specifically looking for them. Parents should therefore not take a "clean" test result at face value if their child is showing worrying signs: confusion, seizures, erratic or zombie-like behaviour. "One way is to insist on a comprehensive toxicology screen, and alert medical professionals to the possibility of vaping-related drug intake," he said. Mr Yip added that accident and emergency staff, clinicians at the Institute of Mental Health, school counsellors and general practitioners should also be updated regularly on new trends in drug-laced vapes, so they can respond appropriately. "Most importantly, talk to your children. These are no longer 'just vapes'. They are chemical cocktails disguised in sleek devices - or as I call them, 'vapes with a twist of terror'," he said. Border checks Breaking the wave of e-vaporisers and Kpods requires sharper and more coordinated enforcement, from stepping up checks at the borders to tightening screening at parcel processing centres, said Mr Yip. He added that it is critical to track deliveries and follow the trail to arrest not just buyers, but also the local distributors and peddlers. Singapore Customs and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority already do this with cigarette smuggling syndicates, framing the issue as an obligation to ensure the security and safety of Singapore. "The same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore," the agencies had said previously. Mr Yip said enforcement efforts must also go digital. "We should leverage AI-powered surveillance to scan darknet markets, Telegram groups and smuggling forums, where new trends often appear first," he added. While acknowledging that the authorities are already collaborating across agencies and also working with regional counterparts, Mr Yip said this must be scaled up further. Beyond enforcement, public awareness matters, he said, noting that many people still do not know how to report such offences. Mr Yip added: "Today, reporting to HSA relies on a weekday office line (it is on their website). A suggestion would be for 24/7 hotlines, online reporting or even integration with the OneService app. "We also need to reach young people where it matters - on the platforms where syndicates target them, like Telegram and social media. "Community education, peer-led interventions and even celebrity-driven cautionary campaigns could help shift perceptions." Mr Yip said that as a father of five young children, he has got "skin in the game". "This is more than just a policy challenge - it is a growing threat in schools, community and online spaces. "The recent case involving teenagers reportedly behaving erratically after inhaling drug-laced Kpods outside a Punggol mall is not just worrying - it is a red flag. "These devices are not only illegal, but they are also dangerous and designed to avoid detection," he added.
CNA
5 days ago
- CNA
Thailand's tropical hot spring tourism plan
Thailand plans to start developing spa towns, similar to popular sites in Japan and Europe, and creating tourism routes that promote wellness. Its government has a hefty budget and multi-year strategy to develop infrastructure - but can the plan work?
