SINGAPORE: The closure of roads for mass events came under scrutiny after the organiser of the Standard Chartered Marathon apologised to patients and doctors affected by road closures near Raffles Hospital during the Dec 3 race.

Dr Chan Wen Yan said that patients and doctors had trouble reaching the hospital because of the traffic diversions. In one instance, the delay resulted in a patient in premature labour having her baby delivered at the A&E department without her obstetrician, she said.



A spokesman for race organiser Ironman Asia said that it had "made sure that all routes and access points were approved" by the hospitals along the race route. These include Mount Elizabeth Hospital, which told Channel NewsAsia that it did not have any issues with the road closures.

It got our readers talking on Facebook. Here's a sample of their views:

Where are our priorities?: Ed Rowan Lee

"Is it right of us to have a life-saving facility divert their direct-access route?



What - in our mind - accepts that a marathon has higher priority than that of a hospital?

"If there's anyone to divert, it should be the event, not the hospital."

Will everyone be familiar with alternative routes in an emergency?: Charis Mun

"There may be alternative routes but it will likely take longer and most may not be familiar with the route. In an emergency, every minute counts.

The hospital may brief the ambulance driver, but how would patients getting there on their own, like the woman who went into labour prematurely, be familiar with such alternative routes?

"I’m not even sure doctors who have to rush to hospital on a Sunday morning are familiar with the alternative routes."

Why didn't the hospital management speak up earlier?: Wei Min Liu

"I wonder why the hospital did not make a ruckus when the barrier was put up? Surely they were informed by the organisers way before the event. I don't doubt the organisers were at fault, but surely the hospital has failed to exercise their due diligence."

Other hospitals on the race route had no issues: Gary Tang

It seems the issue lies with the hospital itself.



"There was no issue with Mount Elizabeth Hospital. Would be good to understand the root cause and address it."

Road closures could have been planned better: Drive Home Service Singapore

"Access to and from many places were blocked. Car park exits were shut and non-passable after closures. All without pre-warning signs nor posters to inform (the public) of the closures.

Even the printed road closure map on their website was unclear.

"Road marshals were confusingly misguiding, or got motorists stuck!

"The best part was, half an hour after the car park exits were opened, parking summons were issued to those cars that were … stranded even before the owners could arrive to finally retrieve them."

Road closures affected others too: Cindy Tay

"I finished work at Concorde Hotel around 12.30am. The MRT and buses had all stopped running. Called Uber to go home, (but) after 15 minutes the driver gave up as he could not get in. I had to walk along the Istana in the dark alone all the way to KK Hospital to catch a cab. Reached home 2.00am."

First world problems?: Vijiyesvari V Bala Kerisnan

"No war zone or emergency situations but in Singapore, social activities become a difficulty for others."

Who gave clearance for the road closures? Wei Ting

"Much as I have my grouses about the organisation of the StanChart Marathon, I'm surprised they're drawing the bulk of the flak for this. Should we expect run organisers to be well-versed with the consequences of road closures and alternative traffic routes? What about authorities that gave the clearance?

Surely a big annual event like the StanChart Marathon involving extensive road closures wouldn't have been able to proceed without clearance.



Don't put the onus on Raffles Hospital: Au Kah Kay

"Traffic management and road diversions are the responsibility of the organisers and other stakeholders like the Traffic Police, Land Transport Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority.

"Access to buildings where essential services are provided round the clock, like hospitals, police stations and the airport should not be compromised by road closures.

"This is not the first time that Standard Chartered is organising a marathon and there is no excuse to put the onus of access to Raffles Hospital on the hospital."



(Editor's note: In 2016, current StanChart Marathon organiser Ironman Asia acquired Spectrum Worldwide, which has organised the marathon since 2013.)

New StanChart Marathon organiser had other problems too: Muhd Sofee Hadi

The previous organiser was good. This year's was awful top to bottom.

"For one, volunteers were not even given proper meals; not even bread or something edible (they gave like peanuts), the shirts were all either oversized or tight … (there was) no communication whatsoever; the volunteers were given nothing to communicate to each other (and had to use) our phones. Heck, they didn't even do a proper briefing."

Why must the StanChart Marathon be held in the city?: Vam Richie

"Singapore has so many places to run ... but don't know why every time die, die must hold it in the central area ... go to East Coast, Changi Coast, Punggol, Tuas, Mandai or even Sentosa lah. If really serious about running, everywhere also can run. All just for marketing!"

Give runners what they want: Mike Michael

"Runners have been asking for nice new routes. Give it to them - Tuas, Lim Chu Kang, Neo Tiew, Kranji, Bah Soon Pah, Changi South/North, Loyang etc. They would appreciate the beautiful scenery."

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