<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Lifts at every floor a necessity, not luxury
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with consternation the remark by suicide expert Chia Boon Hock that 'the Government spoils us with lifts on every floor' ('Warning: Suicide peak ahead', Wednesday).
I have lived in a resale HDB flat in Eunos Crescent for more than 20 years.
This block of flats and many in the estate do not have lifts serving every floor. We are forced to walk up at least 2-1/2 flights of stairs to reach our unit. For those living higher up, there are two additional flights to go.
This was no problem for me and most other residents when we first moved in, as we were still physically mobile.
As the years wore on, I noticed that many of my neighbours began to suffer ill health and other physical handicaps.
I watch sadly as these old and infirm or handicapped people struggle to go up the stairs.
One elderly woman had to stop at each step for a minute or two to catch her breath. Another old man, who used to play competitive badminton in his younger days, is too proud to ask for help as he grabs the handrail for support.
Another neighbour's wife had a stroke and has been bedridden for 12 years, refusing to leave her home - except for the weekly visit to the doctor - because it is too inconvenient.
I began to view the stairs as a cruel impediment.
As for myself, my late wife was stricken with cancer and in the last months of her life, I had to carry her up and down 4-1/2 flights of stairs each time we needed to visit the doctor. It was trying.
Although my block underwent a major upgrading in 2000, the HDB refused to include lifts stopping at each floor despite feedback requesting them, saying 'it is not possible'.
My point is that a lift on every floor is not a luxury and does not 'spoil' us. It is a necessity.
Dr Chia has been blessed with good health, but that does not mean the 80 per cent of people who live in HDB flats are spoilt. He mentioned that 'in Singapore, no social security system exists', so these lifts go some way towards distributing something to improve our quality of life.
I hope the HDB will do more to speed up the programme to install lifts that stop at all floors. Teng Nee Peng
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with consternation the remark by suicide expert Chia Boon Hock that 'the Government spoils us with lifts on every floor' ('Warning: Suicide peak ahead', Wednesday).
I have lived in a resale HDB flat in Eunos Crescent for more than 20 years.
This block of flats and many in the estate do not have lifts serving every floor. We are forced to walk up at least 2-1/2 flights of stairs to reach our unit. For those living higher up, there are two additional flights to go.
This was no problem for me and most other residents when we first moved in, as we were still physically mobile.
As the years wore on, I noticed that many of my neighbours began to suffer ill health and other physical handicaps.
I watch sadly as these old and infirm or handicapped people struggle to go up the stairs.
One elderly woman had to stop at each step for a minute or two to catch her breath. Another old man, who used to play competitive badminton in his younger days, is too proud to ask for help as he grabs the handrail for support.
Another neighbour's wife had a stroke and has been bedridden for 12 years, refusing to leave her home - except for the weekly visit to the doctor - because it is too inconvenient.
I began to view the stairs as a cruel impediment.
As for myself, my late wife was stricken with cancer and in the last months of her life, I had to carry her up and down 4-1/2 flights of stairs each time we needed to visit the doctor. It was trying.
Although my block underwent a major upgrading in 2000, the HDB refused to include lifts stopping at each floor despite feedback requesting them, saying 'it is not possible'.
My point is that a lift on every floor is not a luxury and does not 'spoil' us. It is a necessity.
Dr Chia has been blessed with good health, but that does not mean the 80 per cent of people who live in HDB flats are spoilt. He mentioned that 'in Singapore, no social security system exists', so these lifts go some way towards distributing something to improve our quality of life.
I hope the HDB will do more to speed up the programme to install lifts that stop at all floors. Teng Nee Peng