WHENEVER I want to tell my friends how thankful I am to be living in Singapore, I always share this incident.
I once woke up at 2.30am and heard my nine-month-old daughter coughing. Her cough sounded like a dog barking furiously, and I knew it was not normal.
I tried to wake my husband, but, as he had returned late from a long day at work, he could not be awakened.
In the end, I took my daughter and tried to hail a cab in the middle of the road. One cabby stopped. He knew it was an emergency and told me he would drive as quickly as he could to National University Hospital.
Upon reaching the hospital, the nurses and doctor on duty saw us in less than 10 minutes. They were incredibly tender and kind, and sought to not only heal the baby, but also reassure a worried mother.
They diagnosed my daughter as suffering from croup, administered medicine to open her airways, and discharged us.
It started to rain when I tried to hail a cab home. There were two army boys with us at the taxi stand, one of whom had a huge bandage on his leg. They offered us their cab so we could go home first.
We managed to get home safely by 4am.
This could have happened only in Singapore, where I can trust the cabby to take me and my baby safely to where we had to go, where medical staff are efficient and competent, and where strangers willingly offer their cabs.
How proud I am to be a Singaporean.
Yvonne Kong (Ms)
