Vaping Cases Referred to Health Sciences Authority and Those Referred by Parents

1 Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry tracks the number of vaping cases referred to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) by the Police; (b) if so, what are the number such cases in 2023 and 2024 respectively; (c) how many of such cases arise from parents referring their own children to the Police; (d) what is the approach by HSA to such referrals; and (e) what help is available to parents who are worried that their children are vaping.

The Minister of State for Health (Ms Rahayu Mahzam) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) received about 4,000 and 5,000 cases involving possession or usage of e-vaporisers from the Singapore Police Force over the past two years. In these two years, only one of these cases was a parent referring his child to the Police for vaping. For this case, the person was issued with a warning instead of a composition fine and referred to the Health Promotion Board (HPB) for counselling.

Parents who are concerned that their children are vaping can call the HPB QuitLine for a referral to HPB’s smoking and vaping cessation service. No enforcement action will be taken against the children.

Mr Speaker: Dr Tan.

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister of State for her answer. My Clementi residents shared with me that they discovered their child was vaping. Because they did not know what to do, they brought their child to the nearest Police station. The Police referred the case to HSA and the child was issued with a $300 fine for vaping. The parents were distressed and concerned, and worried that this approach, however well-meant by the agencies, might discourage parents from getting their children help.

Can I ask the Minister of State two supplementary questions? Firstly, how closely does HSA work with the Police when a parent reports their child for vaping to a Police station? Because sometimes, parents may not be aware of what is the optimal channel. Secondly, do we know, for such cases, whether the Police when they update HSA, do they inform HSA that it was a parent who was concerned and thereby, highlighting the child's situation so that the agencies can take an appropriate approach, rather than levying a fine on a child because the parent was trying to get help for the child?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his questions and for raising this issue. Indeed, for that particular case, because the Member had raised it to us, we managed to remediate the situation and addressed the situation accordingly. In general, we do take a very nuanced approach with regard to a voluntary situation where they want to stop vaping and the parents bring the child forward. Typically, for this kind of situations, it will be flagged to HSA and we will then issue vaping counselling to the child, issue a warning instead.

These are situations where we would need to continue addressing. What I would advise parents, if they are faced with a situation where they suspect their children of vaping, please use the HPB hotline to get them some help, and appropriate support will be given to the children. For those situations where there is an aberration and the matter is reported to the Police, please let us know if there are some difficulties. As mentioned in my earlier answer, it was only one case that we are aware of where the parents reported to the Police. In that case, a warning was issued instead.

If Members are aware of certain circumstances where the parents have approached the Police instead and some fines are issued, you could highlight that case to us. What we want to do is to have a nuanced approach where we are supportive of parents who want to help their children cease vaping.

Mr Speaker: Dr Lim Wee Kiak.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Can I ask, in light of the fact that we have a smoking cessation clinic, is there a vaping cessation clinic, whereby the public can surrender themselves and say, "I have been vaping. I wish to have some help"? And how does the Ministry of Health (MOH) handle this?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Like the smoking hotline, you can call HPB for their hotline and you can specify that it is an issue of vaping cessation, and the same support will be given to the individual who wishes to cease vaping.