A Committee of Inquiry will be set up to investigate the death of Private Dave Lee Han Xuan, who collapsed after an 8km fast march on 18 April due to heat stroke.
Pte Lee was warded at Changi General Hospital but died 2 weeks later.
According to MINDEF, Pte Lee, a Guardsman from the 1st Battalion Singapore Guards, had just completed the fast march at Bedok Camp when he showed signs of heat injury.
A medic attended to him and brought down his core temperature, and he was then evacuated to the camp’s medical centre where more treatment was given to cool him down.
Pte Lee was sent to Changi General Hospital an hour later after he showed signs of distress.
He was warded in an intensive care unit but fell into a coma and his condition worsened.
Pte Lee was pronounced dead yesterday (30 Apr), ten days after his 19th birthday.
Pte Lee had enlisted on 5 Jan and completed his Basic Military Training on 11 March.
Prior to enlistment, he had attended Rulang Primary School and Yuhua Secondary School, and went on to complete his A Levels at Jurong Junior College.
The COI investigating Pte Lee’s death has full powers and access to information and personnel to investigate the circumstances leading to death, to determine the contributory factors and make recommendations to rectify lapses, if any.
Scrap NS altogether
May 1, 2018 at 10:31 am
Heat injury has been happening in saf even after so many years of water parades and blah, blah, blah?? It’s a simple case, and in all cases as well, of grossly inadequate hydration along the route march! Provide 1 litre of water per soldier per hour of route march, and we will see heat injury disappear altogether. But is the old, archaic saf willing to change?? Are those 2 bottles of water enough to provide hydration between rest stops? What’s the point of developing a 3G or even 4G saf army when you are already killing your own soldiers over water rationing?? Lol!
Vetri
May 1, 2018 at 6:37 pm
Govt could have a dialouge with public to prevent any such future happenings. By virtue of qualification and training the sergeant and commanders are not all knowing. Constant monitoring by a senior with humanity at heart required to evaluate thd situation all the time. When NS men complaint do not ignore them by suspecting them.