A Good Samaritan

Lim-Yeo Pin Pin, Central Library RIS Dept

On 19 September 1998, S. Ramasamy or Ramu, as he is commonly known and a Technical Support Officer with the Reprographics Services Dept in Central Library, went with his friend for lunch at South Buona Vista Road. They drove past the National Community Leadership Institute after their lunch and saw a man waving frantically for help. They stopped the car and the man asked if they could get five children, who had just been stung by hornets, to hospital. Without hesitation, Ramu loaded the children into the back of his car and hurried to the National University Hospital (NUH). The children were screaming with pain in the car and were very agitated. Ramu tried to calm the children down while rushing to the Accident and Emergency (A&E) entrance at NUH. As the two younger children were hurting so much, Ramu carried them into the A&E. They had shots administered by the attending doctors. Ramu recalled that the children were covered with red swellings where they have been stung. As Ramu had to leave in a hurry to pick up his own family, he did not leave his name.

Ramu visited the children who were hospitalised and he felt especially sorry for the girl who had to be put on dialysis as the hornetŐs venom had affected her kidneys. The man who had flagged down his car was Mr Dorian Ball, wrote a letter to The Straits Times to thank the men who had stopped to help the children.

Ramu first joined the University of Singapore's Faculty of Dentistry as a laboratory attendant in 1967 and was transferred to the Engineering Library then located in Singapore Polytechnic in 1971 as a library attendant. He later applied for the position of Photographer and has been with the Reprographics Dept since 1980, doing microfilming of newspapers and other documents and taking photographs at University functions.

Ramu recalled giving a lift to a Malay couple in Bukit Batok two years ago. It was after 11 pm, when he spotted the lady sitting by the roadside crying. Her husband had been trying, without success until Ramu stopped to help, to get a taxi to send his wife to hospital as her labour pains had started. Ramu also provided valuable assistance to one of his former colleagues, the late Naidu. For over one year, he drove everyday, from Jurong to Ghim Moh, to give Naidu, a lift to and from work as Naidu had difficulty walking after his kidney operation.

Ramu is a Volunteer Police Officer since 1982 and is currently a Station Inspector with the Jurong Division. He puts in 16 hours a month with the Police Dept. Ramu recalls attending court cases where he had to testify and give the facts in the case. He has also attended to calls where family disputes were causing a disturbance. He would usually try to calm both parties down and refer them for counselling. Ramu remembers one incident where the husband got very agitated and grabbed a chopper and Ramu had to disarm and apprehend him. Ramu was also a counsellor with the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association between 1976 and 1987. He has learnt much from being a counsellor and a volunteer police officer, especially on how to handle people. Ramu was awarded the Good Service Medal in August 1998 and 30-year Long Service by the Singapore Police Service.

Ramu is happy to help people with genuine needs and always aims to do his best. The Library would like to commend Ramu for his willingness to help others.

Letter from Dorian Ball to The Straits Times:

Hornet-stung children saved by kind souls

I would like to thank the people who helped usin the early afternoon on Saturday, Sept 19. I had taken six children up Kent Ridge for a hike and picnic when one of the children unknowingly disturbed a nest of Vespa tropica hornets.

Dozens of the angry 3-cm-long balck-and-yellow banded insects swarmed around us and fastened onto our hair, faces and clothes, stabbing repeatedly with their venomous needle-like stings. We fled down the hill to South Buona Vista Road and flagged down two passing cars.

The first Good Samaritans, two men, allowed five muddy, bleeding and screaming children to be piled into their car, drove directly to the National University Hospital and took them to the emergency department.

The other Good Samaritan in another car drove my almost comatose eight-year-old daughter and me to the same hospital.

I regret to say that although I thanked him at the time, I was not able to note his name or phone number.

Selfless, public-spirited people like these deserve better and I want to convey to them the three families' profuse thanks. The three little girls had respectively 25,42 and 91 stings. They might not have survived had we not taken them to the hospital as quickly as we did.

Dorian Ball
The Straits Times 3 October 1998
Reprinted with the permission of the author

Mr Dorian Ball happens to be a member of NUS Library and had spent time in the Library, in particular the Reprographic Services Dept, before going on his Diana Adventure (CC77 Und.Ba CL Main Shelves, CL Sing/Mal Coll) in 1993 where he succeeded in locating and salvaging the ship Diana which was wrecked off the coast of Malacca in 1817.