MANY parents here are content to leave the health screening of their sons to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) before they start National Service (NS).
This is despite calls from the public for more rigorous medical checks by the SAF on preenlistees after the sudden deaths of two soldiers recently.
Recruit Andrew Cheah Wei Siong, 20, collapsed and died on June 10 during a training walk, barely five days into his NS.
A day later, Officer Cadet Clifton Lam Jia Hao, 20 - who was given the rank of Second Lieutenant posthumously - collapsed while undergoing jungle training in Brunei.
In a my paper poll of 100 parents with sons of various ages who have yet to enlist, 59 said they do not plan on sending their sons for a thorough health check-up on their own before enlistment.
Many said they feel the SAF's screening was adequate, and a separate checkup could not guarantee all health problems would be discovered.
SAF pre-enlistees go through checks which include chest X-rays, calculation of body fat and resting electrocardiograms (ECGs) to detect abnormalities in the heart.
Dr Terrance Chua, deputy director of the National Heart Centre Singapore, said the basic heart screening that pre-enlistees undergo before recruitment is generally adequate to pick up major abnormalities.
He added: "There are many possible causes of sudden death and some of these cannot be detected easily by screening, nor predicted, such as heat stroke and myocarditis."
Said Mr Ben de Souza, 46, an ex-school teacher, who has a 14-year-old son: "I have faith in the Army, and they know what they are doing. I have confidence in my boy and his health."
