Undergoing dialysis first requires a fistula procedure and a waiting time of approximately a month for the fistula passage to mature before the treatment can begin. Doctors in Singapore advised him to seek a transplant, as a lifetime of dialysis would be very expensive given that ‘S’ is only 29-years old. ‘S’s father in India volunteered to donate one of his kidneys to him and as they are family members, the chances of organ rejection reduces significantly. Given the high costs of treatment in Singapore and potential long-term benefit of a kidney transplant, ‘S’ chose to go to India for his treatment.

During this time, his company informed him that he was covered by insurance for his initial hospital stay, and that it was his choice if he wanted to stay in Singapore to work and undergo dialysis three times a week here, or return to India for dialysis and get a potential transplant. After he decided to go to India, his company and fellow colleagues, who are also migrant workers, set up an internal fundraiser, which raised SGD $1,675 for him. The company passed him this money, along with one month’s salary, to support his immediate needs.

‘S’ flew to India on 30th May, and used this sum of money to begin his dialysis treatment and conduct all the necessary tests to confirm his and his father’s suitability for transplant. The money was also used to pay for his travel costs to and from his home to a larger hospital in Trichy, which is equipped to provide the treatment he needs.

As of right now, ‘S’ and his father have been approved for the transplant, and have received a quote of Rs. 780,600 [~ SGD 14,244] for the surgery. ‘S’ has used up all of the money he had to pay for transport and hospital costs up to this point. His brother also took a small loan to help him pay for these costs.

We are fundraising SGD 11,244 out of the overall cost of SGD 14,244 by 15th of October. We are allocating SGD 3,000 to ‘S’ listing from our Standing Solidarity Fund. He can book a surgery as long as he has the money to pay for it, and his hope is that he can get the surgery in late October. If we do not fundraise the SGD 11,244 by then, ‘S’ will have to book a later surgery date. A later surgery date will mean ‘S’ will be incurring extra costs for additional months of dialysis, approximately $600 SGD/month, and every penny he uses on his dialysis is money he loses out to use for his surgery, which is the treatment he needs.

Despite the goodwill of his company, ‘S’ was ultimately still a low-wage labourer in a country with no minimum wage laws, facilitating the $18-$19/day average that migrant workers earn. After remitting money home, repaying agent fee debts, and paying for day-to-day necessities, this leaves very little, and sometimes nothing at all, for workers to save for long-term healthcare and other needs. Retirement is not a concept that the working-class can necessarily partake in, and many migrant workers struggle to access healthcare to tend to the injuries and illnesses (work-related and otherwise) that they develop over time.

‘S’ is lucky in the sense that his father can be a donor, because the average waiting time for cadaveric kidney transplants in Singapore is 9 years, and it is not common that there is a viable donor in the family itself. People on dialysis only have a 5-year survival rate of under 50%, while people who receive transplants have a survival rate of about 80% after 5 years. Seeing as ‘S’ has many decades left to live, this transplant is the best option for him and we would like to see him receive it.

He returned to Bangladesh in April last year due to his boss’ non-compliance and his need to seek medical treatment. He saw a doctor who identified that he had an infected anal fistula. As a result he was scheduled for an emergency day surgery to remove the fistula tract. To pay for this he took a loan of 1.8 lac (equivalent to SGD $2,800) to cover the cost of the surgery and miscellaneous medical costs.

The loan is informal and the lender does not charge interest in the first year, which lapses in April 2022. Beyond this timeline, the interest charged is a balloon interest rate of 30%.

We are seeking to raise SGD $2,800 by 15th March to help J repay this loan. Rightfully, it is a cost that should have been borne by his employer in Singapore via insurance but as we explore in the following slides, it is a responsibility that many employers default on.

More details, including an audio recording from his supervisor, here

We previously conducted a fundraiser for JP’s chemotherapy so this case is not an unfamiliar one. You can refer to our previous post for both a detailed breakdown of this case and an outline of employer negligence and other systemic issues, especially when it comes to migrant workers’ health and overall wellbeing.

In our first fundraiser, we supported JP with 1) funds via the SSF for an emergency hysterectomy in Ilo Ilo; as well as 2) a fundraiser for chemotherapy. Last month, we learnt that JP needed some additional funds for two more radiotherapy procedures as part of her cancer treatment – tomotherapy, followed by brachytherapy. We sent JP SGD $2,700 in January via the SSF for the tomotherapy treatment, which constitutes 25 sessions in 25 days. Now, she is at the end of her tomotherapy treatment, and is in need of funds for her brachytherapy sessions.

Brachytherapy costs SGD $2,500 and we seek to fundraise the full amount by 11th March so JP can make the transition between therapies as smoothly as possible. The good news is that once her treatment is over, she will likely be in much better health and fit to support her family once again.

H came to Singapore 15 months before his death with the primary intention of earning enough money to pay for his daughter’s heart operation. She has a congenital heart condition, amongst other medical issues, and the recommended heart operation cost 6 lacs (approximately $9,500 SGD). As is the case with most migrant workers, he incurred a massive debt coming to Singapore and ended up passing away with less money than he had to begin with. 

Using some funds sent to her by H’s employer, his friends who are also migrant workers, and the Singapore Bangladesh Society, S managed to pay for her daughter’s Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) closure, and pay off H’s outstanding debt. S and her daughter are currently staying at the Firoza Badi Disabled Children Hospital where her daughter is receiving treatment. She hopes to take care of her daughter full time for 2 more months before setting up her own garment business. We are looking to support her with these costs and the monthly breakdown (in SGD) of healthcare costs is as follows: 

The sewing machine, wholesale cloth, and raw materials for her garment business is a one-time $500 cost. 

Our fundraising goal is $2,000 which will make 4 months of S’s daughter’s healthcare expenses along with the one-time cost of setting up her garments business; however we will be keeping the fundraiser open till 24th April so as to accommodate as many contributions as possible.

R is currently undergoing a new round of more expensive chemotherapy to sufficiently suppress his immunity. He will complete the final round by the end of April. We are raising money for his second attempt at a BMT that is scheduled for early May. At this point, he will need to have the funds at hand in order to secure the BMT; otherwise, he risks having his white blood cell count go up again, which would require yet more rounds of expensive chemotherapy before he can potentially be eligible for a third try at BMT. This is why our fundraiser for R is time-sensitive. 

The bone marrow transplant is estimated to cost SGD 23,600 in total, converted from Bangladesh taka. We are seeking to raise SGD 25,000: this amount would enable R to receive this potentially life-prolonging treatment and cover supplementary costs (e.g. transport, post-surgery food and medicine, etc), as well as to provide some relief for his family in light of the loss of R’s income and his medical needs. In the event that R is ultimately unable to undergo a bone marrow transplant or otherwise has a poor prognosis, the funds will help him to settle his last affairs and leave some provision for his family, which includes a 2.5 year old daughter (whom he previously had not met until these events brought him back to Bangladesh).

Below is R’s doctor’s memo (personal identifiable information is redacted) that indicates the estimated cost of the BMT in Bangladeshi Taka:

‘A’s situation is especially difficult as he lost his mother in December 2020, and has come to Singapore to work multiple times. Each time he has paid high agent fees, and currently, his employers are cutting $200 a month from his paltry salary to offset the quarantine costs when he entered Singapore – which is illegal. 

He and four of his friends gave up all the savings they had to send for his father’s treatment , following which they did not have enough money to pay their respective food caterers for daily meals. Through an SSF (Standing Solidarity Fund) disbursement of SGD $1,000, we were able to send enough money for all five men to pay their caterers and have enough meals for the month. We are now fundraising for a total amount of $4,900 for ‘A’ to repay the loan he took from his friends to pay for his father’s surgery.

‘A’s time in Singapore thus far has been tumultuous and he has been unable to save much money, despite coming to Singapore to work a total of four times. ‘A’ first came to Singapore in 2014 to work for a supply company, paying $12,000 SGD in agent fees. He left Singapore after one year because the company lacked a work permit quota to renew his permit. That entire year, he only managed to send a total of $4,000 SGD (~$333 SGD a month) home. ‘A’ came to Singapore a second time in 2016, this time paying $7,200 SGD in agent fees. After 10 months of work, a colleague met with a fatal worksite accident and MOM shut down the company, effectively repatriating all 200+ of their workers, including ‘A’. 

He came back to Singapore a third time paying $4,500 SGD in agent fees and worked for two years. This is when ‘A’ suffered a workplace injury, and after receiving some treatment, he was sent back to Bangladesh. He received a small payout from a WICA claim related to the injury, and this was able to help him with the  loans he took for his agent fees. It was during this trip back to Bangladesh in late 2020 that his mother passed away. Finally, ‘A’ came to Singapore a fourth time, paying $1,600 SGD in agent fees and upon his arrival in Singapore, he had to serve a quarantine, and his company has been deducting $200 per month from his salary since, for the cost of his quarantine. 

On 8th July 2021, ‘A’s  father experienced a stroke and was taken to the hospital for urgent treatment. With no savings to depend on to fund this sudden medical need, he had to borrow money from his friends to remit home. The treatment was a success; however, A is now in debt to  his friends. Because of the great financial precarity that migrant workers are in (due to compounding factors such as agent fee debt and immensely low wages), all those who helped to pool their funds for A’s father have no money left for their day to day expenses in Singapore – let alone money to send home this month for Eid. Through an SSF disbursement, we were able to transfer ‘A’ $1,000 SGD to help settle the five of their catering costs.

‘A’s mental health has been greatly affected by everything that has been going on, resulting in an inability to focus during his job—which is highly risky. He also does not have freedom of movement as his living quarters are on his worksite itself, which is managed by tight security. He shared that he has been taking small loans from friends to get by over the years in Singapore, and that last week, one of his Bangladeshi compatriots that he had owed money to for a long time was killed in a workplace accident. This friend had not spoken to him in over a year due to the money he had not returned, and ‘A’ grieved about how he never even got a chance to say goodbye to his friend. 

To make matters worse, we learnt that ‘A’ was a victim of a WhatsApp scam call by someone impersonating a police officer and managed to steal ‘A’s bank ATM card details. We are visiting ‘A’ as often as we can to see him and provide support; we recently helped to get his ATM card re-issued and to set up a new iBanking account. Now the biggest hurdle moving forward is repaying his friends, who are also migrant workers, the $4,900 SGD remaining from the borrowed sum for his father’s surgery. 

Currently, Ms. W is on a social visit pass and has been returning to China every 3 months pre-Covid. Her last return trip was in October 2019. She was due to return to China again in February 2020, but the flight was cancelled as the Covid-19 situation in China got worse. In July 2020, she bought another ticket but it was cancelled again and she has been residing in Singapore since. Recently, Ms W received a notice from ICA that she needs to leave Singapore by 12 July 2021 – otherwise, she would be charged/fined for overstaying. She and her husband requested for an extension from ICA and purchased a flight ticket to leave Singapore on 27 August 2021.

Due to the current Covid-19 situation, overseas returning citizens of China are required to serve a quarantine order which costs 600 RMB per day (~SGD $125). They will also have to serve additional quarantine if they make an additional transit to another provincial state. As Ms W’s hometown is in Heilongjiang and there is no direct flight, she would need to serve quarantine orders twice. These two quarantine periods add up to 21 days, costing approximately SGD $2,700.

The quarantine fee is unmanageable for Ms W and her husband. Ms W’s social visit pass status disallows her from working in Singapore, and she does not have any income or any next-of-kin in China to help. Her husband’s income has been poor since Covid-19 started; his savings have also been depleted after purchasing Ms. W’s plane ticket. Both Ms. W and her husband have tried various methods to obtain the quarantine fees, such as pawning and borrowing from friends. They have managed to raise money to cover her plane ticket, pre-departure swab test, and partial quarantine fees. However, she is still short of SGD $1,000.

Ms. W and her husband are in a tight spot. If they do not arrange the money in time and display to Chinese officials that she is able to pay for and serve quarantine, she will not be allowed to fly into China. This would result in her having to potentially pay a fine for overstaying in Singapore. Her pass status over the last 5 years in Singapore has left her financially dependent on her husband, and has also put a lot of pressure on him as the sole breadwinner. She is looking forward to being back in China where she can make a living and also get access to the COVID-19 vaccine – which she has not been able to receive in Singapore despite multiple requests.

Individuals like Ms. W exist within the margins, and can very easily be rendered invisible by the state, left to fall within the cracks of status quo. She has been living like this for the past 5 years, and despite multiple attempts, has not been able to get a PR status or granted permission to work in Singapore despite being married to a Singaporean. There is a lack of transparency around the process of how these decisions on citizenship and residency get made, but we do believe a person’s class status, race & nationality, and age all play a part. Our solidarity must be with Ms. W, and those like her who make integral contributions to the social fabric of our nation and who are willing and able to contribute to its economy, but are denied the dignity and security of a pass status that recognises and values them as equals.

We sent her $1,500 from the Standing Solidarity Fund to cover her emergency hysterectomy in Ilo Ilo and other miscellaneous medical costs. We are now fundraising for a total amount of $5,500 SGD (~200,000 PHP) to pay for her chemotherapy sessions and any tests or medication that she needs.

In March this year, JP experienced heavy vaginal bleeding while washing dishes, and quickly sought her employer’s permission to visit a clinic. The clinic urgently referred her to a hospital, where they symptomatically treated her and kept JP admitted for 2 days. They ran blood tests and a pelvic ultrasound before discharging her two days later, on a Sunday, with a clinic follow up. JP and her employers were informed that the scan raised suspicions of a gynaecological malignancy, and will only know for sure when the biopsy results return the following week.

The next day on Monday afternoon, JP’s employer informed her that her contract has been terminated with immediate effect, without warning, a notice period, or severance pay. Less than 30 minutes later a maid agency was at their doorstep, waiting to pick JP up. This was both blindsiding and traumatising for JP, considering she had just been admitted for a serious health complication without a chance to process this life change. It is also illegal, as employers are required to either serve a notice period or put up severance pay if they decide to prematurely end a contract.

The agency housed her for a day until she experienced another bout of heavy vaginal bleeding. She was immediately brought back to KKH that Tuesday itself and it was during this second admission that the results from her first admission confirmed JP’s cervical cancer, necessitating urgent surgery. During this second admission, her employers visited her at the hospital to inform her that 1) her Work Permit was cancelled, 2) she was getting an air ticket out of Singapore, and 3) they would give her a sum of money to take care of her medical bills in the Philippines. This amount was later revealed to be $100; despite both of her employers working in multinational pharma and tech companies.

JP made $750 a month as a domestic worker in Singapore and most of her money went to supporting her family in Ilo Ilo — 1/4th of her monthly salary went to paying for her mother’s chronic medications. Her husband is a labourer in Manila, living away from their children in Ilo Ilo, and makes SGD $12 a day. She has two children who are in school and one of them is reading Accountancy in university. JP shared that pursuing cancer treatment puts her in a position where she has to consider if she can still afford to continue her daughter’s university education. Her illness has also put her out of work, meaning that her family has to rely primarily on borrowing money from relatives in order to get by.

Our team met with JP twice to learn more about her situation and provide the necessary support. We are also in touch with her friends in Singapore and have maintained contact with her via text since she left. Our conversations with JP have been clarifying yet depressing, because they revealed how so many systemic conditions intersect to drastically alter a person’s life.

We are seeking to raise $5,500 SGD by 16th August 2021. This is the date of her next chemo appointment; JP has to pay upfront at each of these sessions. 

‘S’s initial phone need was met quickly after a public callout on Instagram for phones put us in touch with a donor. However, upon meeting ‘S’ we learnt that he had a few other pre-existing needs. The WICA case he was involved in was a claim for a 2019 workplace injury to his back, leg, and finger. Since that injury and the opening of a WICA injury claim case, ‘S’ has been unable to work and has been living in Singapore on a Special Pass. A Special Pass is a temporary card issued by the MOM/ICA for specific purposes such as assisting in investigations, attending court, and for stateless persons residing in Singapore. Any individual holding a Special Pass is not allowed to work in Singapore. It is only a pass that grants them permission to remain in Singapore; in the case of ‘S’ – until his case was concluded. This means that for the last two years, ‘S’ has been unable to earn a salary and his company has only been providing him a small food allowance. He had no savings, was living with a friend, and had been borrowing money from other friends to get by.

The WICA case regarding his injuries also did not include any settlement amount to ‘S’. The outcome of his case was that the company had to pay for his hospital bills, but there was no payout of compensation for his loss of income and termination of his employment. Once the WICA case was settled earlier this month, ‘S’s company bought him a plane ticket to Bangladesh and this was when he informed  HealthServe about his phone need.

By leveraging an Instagram call out and a transfer from our SSF fund, we were able to support ‘S’ in a meaningful way despite the short window of time before his flight. If you would like to contribute to the Standing Solidarity Fund to support more workers like ‘S’, do consider making a monthly contribution on our website or through our link in bio on Instagram.

A’s basic pay is $520 and he is the sole breadwinner of his family. He had worked here for 16 months before having to fly back to India as his father suffered a heart attack and was admitted in ICU. The cause of the heart attack turned out to be the result of end stage kidney failure (ESRF). To support his father’s bills, ‘A’ has taken a loan from his boss and sold his home in India. He started an interim job in India before the onset of the second wave of COVID in India left him jobless and his family without income.

His dad currently requires a fistula operation to initiate dialysis. We used the Standing Solidarity Fund to pay for the first urgent fistula operation, but it failed (complicated by an infection). His second fistula operation is scheduled in a month’s time. Scarce resources during India’s critical COVID-19 situation have also resulted in price inflation, where an ambulance ride from their home to the nearest hospital now costs SGD$100 (similar to Singapore).

We are looking to fundraise $3000 for A’s dad to cover hospitalisation, a fistula operation, emergency dialysis, and outstanding debt and family needs. Due to the precarious state of his health and the current situation in India, this is an evolving need and we will provide updates where possible. In the event that A’s father succumbs to his illness, the funds will help ‘A’  settle last affairs and leave some provision for his family.

In their essay ‘Myths About Temporary Migrant Workers and the Depoliticisation of Migrant Worker Struggles’, Charanpal S. Bal unpacks a series of myths, one of which is that workers will be rich when they return home. These misguided assumptions of ‘First’ and ‘Third World’ dollar values feed into the assertion that “while migrant workers may earn low wages (between S$250-S$1000 a month), this is ‘big money’ in their country of origin”. The belief that a few years of work in Singapore on an S$18/day wage guarantees wealth and a comfortable retirement back home is false, and it contributes greatly to the persistent exploitation and underpayment of migrant workers here. 

This listing is a very real, concrete illustration of how despite spending the majority of their adult lives doing hard labour in Singapore, most migrant workers are still unable to save, let alone accumulate intergenerational wealth. This is in large part due to the exorbitant agent/recruitment fees that migrant workers pay in order to be placed at a job here, leaving most workers in debt. The money that they earn is used to offset loans taken to pay these fees as well as to provide for their family’s daily needs. As we also saw in ‘S’ (A02)’s case, saving money is an impossible task. 

Further, due to the lack of job security & fair labour laws protecting workers, a large number of migrant workers end up being repatriated prematurely, with no money-back on their agent fees. Their families also rarely receive adequate compensation for loss of income and in some cases, loss of life—consider the Tuas Industrial Building fire in Feb 2021 and the lorry accident along Upper Bukit Timah in May 2021—oftentimes leaving them poorer than when they started. 

Despite working in Singapore for 15 years, A’s father remains unable to pay for his urgent healthcare needs and has had to send his son to work here as well. This makes for two generations of migrant men who sell their labour yet remain stuck in cycles of debt and poverty, both here and at home. What does Singapore owe these men who spend decades of their lives building a future they cannot participate in? As we formulate our answers and actions to address this question, consider contributing an amount to redistribute what we can to give ‘A’s father the best chance to overcome his medical condition.

Migrant mutual aid work in Singapore has always been about regional solidarity, and in a time like this, we are in solidarity with mutual aid organisations on the ground in India who are supporting people during this crisis. We are choosing to support two based on our capacity to fundraise, and the scale at which these organisations are helping. These are two hyperlocal mutual aid initiatives, both organising for migrant workers in India. Our criteria for picking these organisations is that 1) they are not government-linked; and 2) we are able to get direct verification of these initiatives. We spoke directly with organisers from these networks to learn more about their process and the people they are supporting. 

Migrant Workers Solidarity Network
Migrant Workers Solidarity Network is a network of trade-union activists, social activists, students, workers and concerned citizens who are active in different parts of India. During this second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are providing chartered transportation for migrant workers across multiple states, including New Delhi, to head to their homes mostly in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Bengal. 

Last year during the first wave of the pandemic, Indian Railways operated a total of 4,165 Shramik Special trains to transport stranded migrant workers from May 1st to 9th and ferried over 6.3 million people amid the coronavirus pandemic. This year however, the central government has not restarted Shramik Special trains and only two routes have been started for migrant workers travelling home to Bihar. This has created conditions where workers are forced to 1) violate all social distancing norms and travel back en masse in whatever transport is available, and 2) accept the price gouging by private bus companies taking advantage of the disaster and government failure. MWSN is arranging bus transportation for these stranded migrant workers to return home. Beyond transportation, money received will be spent procuring food rations kits and healthcare facilities, giving basic emergency relief, and providing daily wage sustenance to these workers. Kits would include rice, atta, soyabean, oil, legumes and sanitary products.

Mazdoor Pahal (Workers’ Initiative)
Mazdoor Pahal is a migrant worker-run initiative that ushers towards becoming a co-operative, and was born out of the first wave of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Mazdoor Pahal operated under the banner of Mazdoor Dhaba (Workers’ Dhaba) during the first wave. Today, they focus on providing care and relief for the workers of several settlements around two Industrial hubs in North Delhi, but do not restrict their work in these localities.

During this second wave of the pandemic, the livelihood of workers in these settlements are yet again uncertain as the majority of the workers are either out of work or paid much less than usual. Therefore, the demand for  food and dry rations has surfaced. Mazdoor Pahal is in need of financial contributions to keep supporting this demand. Currently, Mazdoor Pahal is distributing dry rations instead of cooked food given the pandemic conditions, and are seeking to support over 1000 families through this initiative. Each dry ration kit costs approximately 750 INR to procure.  It contains Rice, Flour, Sugar, Lentils, Salt, Cooking Oil, Soap, Sanitary pads, and Spices; and each kit approximately lasts a family of 4 between 6-7 days. Your contributions will help Mazdoor Pahal support as many families within these settlements as possible over an extended period of time. MP is also supporting a community kitchen that provides free food to COVID-19 patients and homeless people in these settlements. 

 How will the money reach the organisations?
To streamline the process for Singaporean donors, we will be collecting the money on their behalf via a local bank account dedicated specifically to this fundraiser. At the end of each week we will transfer the amount we receive to both organisations (each will receive 50% of the funds) and provide updates for transparency.

– UPDATE ON 5th JUNE 2021 –

We are reducing our goal from SGD 30,000 to a more manageable amount of SGD 15,000 and have started a 24-hour fundraiser on Instagram. We will also be topping-up an additional SGD 1,000 to each organisation from our Standing Solidarity Fund.

– UPDATE ON 8th JUNE 2021 –

We have successfully sent over a total of SGD 16,080 (SGD 8,040 to each organisation) through this fundraiser – including SGD 2,000 from our Standing Solidarity Fund. Both Migrant Workers Solidarity Network and Mazdoor Pahal are deeply grateful for our solidarity during this difficult time. Thank you everyone for your contributions!

When we last spoke to R, he shared that he is still in need of 6 more months of chemotherapy before potentially receiving a bone marrow transplant (dependent on finding a viable match). This additional period of chemotherapy ends in September 2021, and the estimated cost of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant is SGD 22,000 in total, converted from Bangladesh taka (currency of Bangladesh).

The SGD 25,000 that we seek to raise would enable R to receive this potentially life-preserving treatment, as well as provide some relief for his family in light of the loss of R’s income and his medical needs. In the event that R is ultimately unable to undergo a bone marrow transplant or otherwise has a poor prognosis, the funds will help him to settle his last affairs and leave some provision for his family, which includes a 2 year old daughter (whom he had not met until these events brought him back to Bangladesh).

We are collaborating with the #SGMuslims4MigrantWorkers campaign to fundraise this money. Please make your contributions to R’s need here. The campaign is zakat-eligible and runs till 21st May, a week after Hari Raya.

In August 2019, he took another loan of $6,500 to pay in agent fees to come back to Singapore again due to the lack of job opportunities in Bangladesh. He is currently repaying this second loan through instalments from his monthly salary. Every month he sends $650 home to pay for these instalments and to support 7 people in his family in Bangladesh.

S is requesting reprieve from his agent fee loan and wants to have a chance at finally saving money from his labour in Singapore. We are fundraising $3,000 to pay for his remaining loan amount, so he can be out of debt and continue supporting his family.

High recruitment costs and agent fees trap workers in perpetual cycles of debt. According to an article by TWC2, agent fees can be up to 20 times a workers monthly salary which means that they spend a bulk of their time in Singapore working to pay off their debts.

When workers become trapped in cycles of debt, they are less likely to assert their rights for fear of losing their jobs, income and ability to pay off loans, making them more vulnerable to mistreatment by employers which include late or underpayment of salary, unsafe working environments, poor living conditions, excessive working hours and so on. They are also less likely to report medical issues, illness, or injury for fear that their work passes will be terminated and they will have to return home with debt. For workers like S, COVID has exacerbated this situation because his brother is an odd-job labourer in Bangladesh who lost his job during the pandemic, so an additional financial burden has fallen on S to both provide for the family and repay his debt.

Workers shouldn’t have to begin their lives in Singapore in debt. The myth that they will eventually be rich when they return home has been dispelled time and again by NGOs and S is a clear example of how the price of “opportunity” is actually a catch-22 for low wage workers.

There he was diagnosed with severe decay and infection. The NDC performed an emergency pulpectomy to relieve him of his pain. However, NDC informed him that if root canal, post-core, and crown procedures were not conducted in a year’s time, his infection is likely to spread and his pain is likely to intensify causing irreparable damage to his teeth.

After multiple negotiations, delays and intervention by MOM, his former employee paid for the emergency pulpectomy. However they have refused to pay for any further treatment. Subsequently, in December 2021, his Work Permit with the former employer expired and he had to find a new job in short notice. He started working with his current employer in January 2021 and his current employer has also refused to pay for the root canal.

Based on the quote provided by NDC, G needs $2,400 to pay for his root canal, post-core, and crown procedures by no later than 1st week of May 2021.

C has been working as a cleaner in local hospitals for the last 15 years, but his company cancelled his work pass in Aug 2020. Since then he has been unemployed and living off his savings, which have mostly run out as he is also supporting his family (wife, two school-going children, and elderly mother) back in Sri Lanka.

Two months ago he was diagnosed with a hernia by a doctor at Healthserve and we recently accompanied him for a follow-up at Alexandra Hospital, where the consultant confirmed this diagnosis. A day-surgery has been scheduled for 26th March 2021, and the total cost is $6,000 (including a $500 deposit before proceeding with surgery). 

At the moment, C is not able to walk more than 100m without needing to lie down due to the groin pain. Because of his unemployment status, he is not able to claim this surgery fee from insurance. 

The fact that someone who has supported the healthcare industry for so long is currently in need and priced out of their own medical needs is more than just cruel irony. Workers are left in these situations because many are unable to afford personal insurance. While healthcare costs are heavily subsidised for Singaporeans, low-wage migrant workers do not enjoy this privilege and are dependent on insurance from their employers. The fact that 1) there are no allowances within the system protecting unemployed workers; and 2) there is no universal healthcare subsidy for low wage labourers reflect the disposability and lack of regard for migrant lives in Singapore. 

A strong case can be made that C’s hernia was in some part caused by the manual labour he performed over the course of the 15 years he worked in Singapore. When we spoke to him, he did lament how unlucky he was that his hernia did not rupture while he was still covered by medical insurance.  

Our duty of care towards migrant bodies, many of whom spend a large part of their adult lives building the infrastructure in this country, must last beyond their term of employment. We must both 1) explore a model that extends insurance coverage for workers who develop work-related illnesses or disabilities after leaving the job, and 2) make healthcare price-accessible for everyone in this country, especially those who are most vulnerable.

C is currently seeking employment, and your contribution will help put him back on a clean bill of health which will pave the way towards that reality.

– UPDATE ON 22nd APRIL 2021 –

C has almost fully recovered from his hernia surgery and is back in good health. Unfortunately, he was not able to secure new employment before his visa expired so his previous company is required to send him back to Sri Lanka. He will be leaving the country this week and we have sent him the remaining amount raised to offset his hospital bill. C has informed us that he will be managing his own payments towards his hospital bill while he is in Sri Lanka and thus his case will be unlisted from our website & sheet until further notice.

Over the last few months V has lost his mom and his two grandchildren, which has taken an immense toll on his mental health, over and above this debt. We would like to help him make this amount as soon as possible, both for his peace of mind and so he can continue to work in Singapore.

While his employer provides food for S, he has been given food that is oily, unhealthy, and does not match his taste/cultural cuisine. Because of this, he hasn’t been able to eat properly in over a month. He has also undergone various surgeries in the past few months and this lack of access to proper food has hindered his recovery.

While there has been no bleeding since, a lump has developed in the anal region and he requires surgery. This amount will cover the cost of the surgery and after-care expenses.

He was wearing safety gear which included a helmet, but the helmet he was provided did not protect the jaw area. Immediately following the accident he didn’t feel much pain and there wasn’t any bleeding so he continued work. Later that night, however, the pain developed and it became intolerable after two days, which is when he informed his employer. M’s employer refused to send him to the hospital as he claimed there was no evidence that M’s injury was sustained in the course of his work. Given his financial situation M did not visit the doctor on his own and is still in need of dental treatment. The procedure to fix a broken tooth and conduct other oral checks costs approximately $1,000. He is asking for $800 to pay for part of the treatment.

He was given medication and an MC for a day. When the pain didn’t subside after a few days, he visited Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and the doctor there identified that the medication he had been given initially was not only the wrong medication for his injury but also meant for someone else (reflected by the name on the label). His employer did not pay for the fees incurred at NTFGH. He was subsequently given a 4 day MC but while he was on MC, his employer cancelled his Work Permit. He filed a complaint against his employer and a claim for work injury compensation – the case is ongoing. Meanwhile he has seen an orthopedic who finally diagnosed the fracture and he has been undergoing physical therapy since. However, he has borne all these medical costs himself. Since his employer terminated his Work Permit he is currently on Special Pass, which prevents him from seeking other employment; with no income he has naturally incurred loans in Singapore for his day to day needs like food and is no position to incur further loans.

While he was here, his mother in Bangladesh fractured her ankle and needs money for treatment. Prior to his work injury, L was the primary wage earner for his family. With L‘s unemployment, his family has been struggling financially and cannot support his mother’s treatment. He asks for $1,200 to support himself here and to send money back home to provide for his mother’s treatment. We have viewed and verified all supporting documents (his & his mother’s).

Due to the injury, he has been out of work for 1.5 years and only received income for the first month that he was on MC. Despite filing for an insurance claim he has not received any payout from his employer and has been footing all his own medical bills even though his employer is meant to pay.

Prior to his injury H was earning S$1,200 a month, which paid for all his family’s expenses back home including his mothers diabetes treatment. Since Oct 2020 his company only pays him S$300-400 a month for living expenses, of which half is spent on his food & essentials in Singapore. This means he can only send S$100-120 home, which is not enough to sustain his family of 5 in Bangladesh. On 6th Feb 2020 (2 months before Circuit Breaker), H fell off a ladder at work. Initially his company wanted to send him home without dealing with the injury but H resisted and so they took him to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He had surgery on 7th Feb 2020, stayed in hospital for a week, and had a follow-up appointment scheduled on 7th April 2020. However CB started on 5th April and his employer did not allow H to leave the dorm for his appointment. When restrictions were lifted H returned to the doctor and was informed that his bone did not heal right and he required a second surgery which took place on 7th Oct 2020. H’s company refused to pay for this surgery and cancelled his work permit at the end of Oct 2020. It was only after H filed a successful claim for injury against his employer that they are covering the total hospital expenses under his insurance plan.

By the time R was diagnosed, his cancer had already metastasised to his bones, including his skull. His company insurance did not cover chemotherapy nor a bone marrow transplant. He was not able to afford treatment in Singapore and decided to go home to Bangladesh for treatment. He also had not met his 1.5 year old daughter who was born while he was in Singapore. Each chemotherapy injection in Bangladesh costs $250, so 6 months worth of treatment comes up to $12,000. His social workers in Singapore managed to raise $1000 before he flew home and he has recently completed his 8th chemotherapy session (2/6 months). To manage paying for his recent sessions he has been borrowing money from various people and is running out of money to repay and continue treatment. The curative treatment is a bone marrow transplant. Given that he has a large extended family, R has a good chance of finding a bone marrow match should he complete 6 months of this immunosuppressive therapy.