After two deaths and a rise in heat injuries, the question arises as to how safe Singapore’s races are. The programme, Talking Point, finds out how better coordination, proper training and practical heat-proofing strategies could help.
SINGAPORE: As an emergency doctor in the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Jason Yeong has seen all sorts of heat-related injuries: heat cramps, heat exhaustion and people fainting.
Some of the cases have been heat stroke, with patients coming in “very agitated, very confused, sometimes even aggressive”, said the associate consultant.
“We do tend to see heat injuries come in (from) half-marathons and above. And that’s largely due to the distance (people) are running.”
Given its central location, SGH is typically the hospital that injured runners are brought to during or after a race. And it has seen more heat-related injuries in recent years.