Rollout of SGSecure in Condominiums and Private Estates

11 Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether he can provide an update on the progress of the SCDF emergency preparedness exercise and rollout of SGSecure in condominiums and private estates; and (b) whether there are plans to place automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at public spaces in private estates.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Amrin Amin) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): SGSecure programmes are accessible to everyone, whether they stay in public or private housing.

An example is the Emergency Preparedness (EP) Day event held at various locations across the island. EP Days are conducted at public areas with high human traffic and all are welcome to attend. Other outreach activities include school assembly talks and counter-terrorism seminars and exercises in workplaces and religious organisations.

To reach out to more members of the public, Home Team officers are also conducting house visits. These visits are currently focused on Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates, but we will progressively include private estates and condominiums.

We are also planning a pilot programme to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in selected condominiums. This is an extension of our Save-A-Life initiative, introduced in 2015 to enhance community response to cardiac arrest cases. So far, more than 2,000 AEDs have been installed in HDB blocks in 36 out of 89 constituencies.

We are in the midst of identifying suitable condominiums to be part of this pilot. The installation of the AEDs will be packaged together with SGSecure and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)/AED training.

Mr Speaker: Miss Cheryl Chan.

Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling (Fengshan): I have two supplementary questions for the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. The first one is: we know that condominiums are confined communities, so are there trials or tests that are being done to see how prepared they are in times of emergencies? The second question is: how can the community play a more active role to help in the rollout of the entire CPR/AED programme?

Mr Amrin Amin: On the first question, emergency preparedness is an ongoing and whole-of-society effort. We do not specifically track the emergency preparedness of condominiums. However, surveys, such as the national security awareness survey, have found that our residents are generally aware of the different emergency scenarios that they might encounter, and our residents have also been taking practical steps to prepare themselves to respond to an emergency situation, such as by having a first-aid kit at home.

A vast majority, over 90%, also believe that everyone has a role to play in ensuring our nation's safety and security and are willing to help during emergencies. These are encouraging findings, but we can always do more to raise the level of preparedness. That is why the Home Team is working with the People's Association (PA) to identify condominiums to ensure that the message gets to them.

On the second question on what part the community can play, the installation of more AEDs, be it in HDB or private estates, will only be effective if residents know how to use it, are able to use it and respond in emergency situations. Our grassroots volunteers are an important group of people who are not only the community first responders, but they can also help to encourage other residents to pick up CPR/AED skills through programmes, such as the Emergency Preparedness Day.

For programmes like our pilots to install AEDs in condominiums, we will work closely with the relevant grassroots advisers, neighbourhood committees and condominium management corporation strata titles to reach out to residents. This is very important because the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Singapore is low at around 5%. This is a 2015 figure. It is in all our interests to ensure that this programmes succeeds. So, the message is for all residents to open their doors to our Home Team officers to ensure that they are able to receive the CPR/AED training.

Mr Speaker: Ms Rahayu Mahzam.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam (Jurong): I would like to clarify what are the criteria or conditions required in the decision to determine if the condominiums are suitable for the installation of AEDs? This may be something we want to work towards, and I, in any case, would like to volunteer the condominiums at Bukit Batok East for this programme.

Mr Amrin Amin: Thank you very much. We note the Member's interest. We intend to identify four constituencies jointly with the PA for this pilot, and these constituencies will be spread across the island. From these constituencies, we will need to identify suitable condominiums to be part of the pilot.

We would need to look at, for example, the location and condominiums where the AEDs can be installed at publicly accessible security posts. These are factors that will be taken into account. We will also need to see the type of management and how receptive they are, and we would encourage condominiums to also maintain their AEDs and equip some of their residents with CPR/AED skills.

We will work closely, as I mentioned, with the grassroots advisers, neighbourhood committees and the management corporation strata titles. This is a whole-of-community effort. We look forward to Members' support.

Mr Speaker: I would like to volunteer as well. Mr Pritam Singh.