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Ho Ching Gave an Update on Oximeter Collection & Even Used the Slang ‘FOMO’

2021-07-11 , 4:20 pm

Recently, Temasek Holdings decided to give a free oximeter to every household in Singapore. This little freebie helps us monitor our blood oxygen levels regularly, and that will give us a hint if we have the coronavirus infection or not.

Of course, these oximeters cannot replace COVID-19 tests. So, if you suspect that you’re a carrier, you should get tested.

But that’s beside the point.

In order for us to redeem the complimentary oximeter, we have to use the leaflet that was sent to our mailbox to exchange it. But with snail-mails and leaflets, there tend to be some problems.

Previously, it was reported that if you were to accidentally throw the redemption leaflets away, there is no way you can get a replacement leaflet. That means, no oximeter for your household.

However, it seems like things have changed.

Ho Ching Gave an Update on Oximeter Collection & Even Used the Slang “FOMO”

Temasek Holdings CEO Ho Ching gave an update on the oximeter collection on her Facebook page:

These are the summarised points:

What Should You Do If You Accidentally Throw the Oximeter Redemption Leaflets Away?

You can call Temasek Foundation call centre number at 1800 738 2000

Or email them at: [email protected]

When emailing them, please provide the following:

Name
Contact number
Contact email
Home Address
Details

For the details, specify why are you emailing them and what happened to your pamphlet: Did you not receive the pamphlet or did you throw the pamphlet away?

If you did not receive the pamphlet, your case will be escalated to SingPost to investigate. If you threw away your pamphlet, you’d need to explain why you or your folks threw it away. An example would be an elderly parent who thought it was spam mail and threw it away.

Such cases will be escalated to the Temasek foundation oximeter team, and depending on the situation, investigations can take up to 4 to 12 weeks.

There are also cases like Singpost confirming delivery of the leaflets to the mailboxes but the resident didn’t receive it. In those cases, the residents should double-check with their household members again. They can also email the oximeter team at Temasek Foundation to appeal for further investigation, in case someone stole the leaflet.

After all, here in Singapore, some people enjoy committing petty crimes such as stealing free masks so that they can not wear them.

If you are going to call their call centres, do note that their call centres are busy during the first few days of the week, but things are better as time passed. Thus, if you can’t get through, try again at a later time or date.

What you should not do is rage at the employee the moment the ring tone ends. They are doing the best they can – with 10 times the amount of calls that they usually handle.

Aside from the increased calls, these call centre folks have to handle the backend tie-ups to SingPost and others as well. So they are very busy giving you free stuff.

Another thing to note is that there is no guarantee that everyone who reports his or her missing pamphlet will be able to get an oximeter. It’s on a case by case basis.

What if Your Oximeter Spoilt / Have No More Battery?

You can exchange your faulty oximeter at the Temasek Shophouse at 28 Orchard Road between 5 July and 31 August.

Do remember to keep the box, for you’ll have to bring along your oximeter and its box in its original condition, along with government-issued identification such as your NRIC or FIN card for identification purposes.

So far, most of the faulty oximeter that was brought to the shophouse seemed to have battery issues. Those that were exchanged had issues with the oximeter screen.

Why Can’t We Collect the Oximeters with Our NRIC?

This begs the question: why can’t we collect the oximeters without NRIC, like how we collect our reusable masks?

Firstly, in most households, there will be more than one resident living in the home. Thus, in order to issue only one oximeter per household, it would require lots of backend changes to set up a system that can link the NRIC to the household to check that only one oximeter has been collected per household.

Even that sound like a mouthful to write, I can’t imagine actually creating this system.

Since the system is such a complicated factor, why not let the cashier retain our NRIC or photocopy it? Well, the cashiers can’t retain our NRIC for audit purposes and it is not practical for them to go photocopy our NRIC.

Just imagine queuing up at the back of the long line to buy a bottle of milk but the queue isn’t moving because your cashier is running to the back to photocopy stuff. That not only adds to the cashier’s workload and reduces efficiency, but it will generate many angry and impatient customers as well.

500,000 Oximeters Were Collected

As of 8 July, 500,000 oximeters were collected. 60% of these oximeters were collected on 5 and 6 July.

They were so popular that even some pharmacies even ran out of supplies due to the lack of space to store these oximeters. These oximeters were topped up on 9 July, ahead of the weekend.

Those with larger on-site storage space such as supermarkets, generally have ample supplies. Thus, they have been tieing up at the backend to better support the pharmacies in their vicinity.

So far, there had not been any issues with the collection.

There Are Enough Oximeters

As Ho Ching said in her Facebook post: “There are enough oximeters for households who want them. Some folks may fret with FOMO. Please relax.”

In case you’re unsure what does FOMO means (after all, new acronyms seemed to pop out everywhere lately), it simply stands for, ‘Fear Of Missing Out.’

In this case, it’s the fear of missing out on receiving a working oximeter to the extent that one might think they’ll run out if they don’t collect them soon. Especially those who do not have the pamphlets.

The current priority of the oximeter team is for people who have a pamphlet to collect their oximeter without any trouble.

As soon as the collection volume reduces, the team can then sort out the issues for those who did not receive their pamphlets or accidentally threw their pamphlets away.

Thus, Temasek Holdings will be prioritising a smooth supply of oximeters to pharmacies and supermarkets within the next 1 to 2 weeks. They will also be topping up the oximeters and supplying more boxes to the peak areas as well.

TLDR; No need to FOMO, you’ll get your oximeter soon enough, and for those that need help, be patient. Help will get to you soon enough.

Featured Image: Facebook (Temasek Foundation & Ho Ching)