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©New Straits Times (Used by permission)

IT appears that there have been 16 deaths since National Service began more than four years ago. This may be statistically acceptable for a programme which handles batches of some 37,000 trainees for the three-month stints. But try telling that to the families of those who have died, or to the parents who are worried sick when their children are selected for NS. To them, one death is one too many, let alone 16. This is not an acceptable toll.

For this reason, the death of a National Service trainee eight hours after complaining of an upset stomach should serve as a wake-up call. It is yet another reminder of how vulnerable the trainees can be. If there's a situation where detailed information on the cause of death should be made widely available to the public, this is it. The National Service Training Council owes the families of the deceased the best possible explanation of why death occurred and a comprehensive account of the steps taken to provide care and treatment. The public at large also has a direct and tangible interest in such information because of the national character of the programme and the fact that it could happen to anyone. As it is, more often than not, the families of the dead trainees have not been satisfied with the official explanations and the medical treatment. One filed a negligence suit last year, and it looks like there will be another one soon.

But this is an issue that goes beyond the legal and the medical. It is a matter of concern for us all because it negatively affects confidence in the delivery of the NS programme, which, by all accounts, has been a laudable way of inspiring love for the country and developing character. As it is, it is regrettable that the causes of death have often been provided without a thorough examination, including a post-mortem. And even when investigations have been conducted, the information has not been made widely available to the public. This is why there should not only be full investigations into the deaths of NS trainees, but also to make the results of the findings public.

This is not a question of apportioning blame but of using the results of the investigations to inform health policies and improve prevention strategies in the National Service camps. The goal should be to yield insights into how deaths can be prevented in the future and to learn lessons to provide better standards of health care.

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