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Note that the below is purely speculative. We have to wait until the investigation result is out to know the full picture.

An excerpt from Straits Times detailing that PTE Foo have got 2 days of MC.

HOURS after Private Joe Foo Wei Rong died, Defence Ministry (Mindef) investigators discovered a medical certificate (MC) inside his personal locker in his bunk.
The 20-year-old national serviceman had collapsed during training on the morning of Sept 30.

The MC said the 20-year-old had ’sprains and strains of knee and leg’ and should rest on Sunday and Monday, Sept 29. He was also supposed to receive light duties for the next four days, Sept 30 to Oct 3.

However, on the first day of Pte Foo’s ‘light duties’ on Sept 30, he joined platoon mates in their morning basic exercise routine, which included push-ups, sit-ups and a session at the chin-up bar.

However, in a separate news article on Channel NewsAsia,

SINGAPORE: The father of 20—year—old Private Joe Foo Wei Rong who died at Lim Chu Kang Camp on Tuesday morning said his son was given three days of medical leave by the Singapore General Hospital on Sunday for a hamstring strain.

Relatives and friends learnt of this as they paid their last respects to the full—time National Serviceman at the Ubi Teochew Parlour on Wednesday afternoon.

Private Foo collapsed while doing chin—ups at Lim Chu Kang camp. The Ministry of Defence said he was brought to hospital where he died shortly after.

Mindef said it is in close contact with the family and will thoroughly investigate their concerns.

Private Foo will be cremated at Mandai Crematorium on Thursday morning.

Many remember him as an athletic young man who liked to play basketball.

Clifton Seah, the cousin of Private Foo, said: “I’m very shocked. He was a fine young man. My brother was on the phone with him barely 12 hours before he died. It’s a great loss.” — CNA/vm

3 days of medical leave starting on Sunday. Anyone with Primary school education can tell you that 3 days MC starting from Sunday means Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

In SAF, it is common practise to ask serviceman with 3 days MC or more to report back to camp for endorsement of MC, and in this case, PTE Foo booked in on Monday night, while he was still on certified to be medically unfit. On the faithful day, he joined in in the chin-up regime. And passed away 2 hours later.

Please also note that because SAF Medical Centers do not endorse MC at night when PTE Foo book in, PTE Foo can only endorse the MC the next day morning during report sick timings, which is normally around 8am for most camp. This is precisely why Medical Center can say they have no record of PTE Foo’s MC, and can then maybe push some blame away from them.

PTE Foo did not give his MC to SAF Medical Center not because he did not want to, but because he did not have a chance to.

Update: Today, Newpaper even published an article with the heading “Have an MC? Say So”

I want to bring up a question, if the PTE Foo’s superior is not aware of his MC, why would PTE Foo be allowed to book in on Monday night rather than Sunday night (sunday night is normal booking-in hours for stay in personnel). PTE Foo would have been declared AWOL (absent without official leave) on monday morning if his superiors are not aware of his MC (as long as you are missing 6hours without official leave, it is considered a day AWOL).

I suggest to have better communication network between Public Hospitals, Polyclinics and SAF Medical Centers, such that medical status of any servicemen who reported sick at public hospitals or polyclinics will be routed to SAF Medical Centers automatically. With today’s current IT infrastructure and technology this is very easy to implement. With this, asking serviceman to come back to endorse MC while they are on MC will no longer be required. Be it a case of the serviceman failing to declare his MC, or be it a case of negligence of the serviceman’s superior, I think my suggestion would go a long way in preventing such cases in the future.

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