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refer to Tjong Lio Ie's letter "No medical doctor at Changi Airport" in the Post's Reader's Forum on Oct. 17.

We are very sorry to learn of Tjong's experience in trying to facilitate his father's flight home from Singapore to Solo on Sept. 10. I would like to clarify that SilkAir has a procedure in place that requires passengers who may not appear to be in a condition to take a flight journey to produce a doctor's letter certifying that they are fit to travel. This is a precautionary measure to ensure that the passenger's health and safety are not compromised during the flight.

In Tjong's case, our ground handling agent had observed that Tjong's father was seated in a wheelchair equipped with an extension to support his head and neck and he appeared ill. Our handling agent had therefore felt that there was a need for a doctor's letter in this case, and this need became more apparent when the agent was informed that Tjong's father had previously suffered a stroke.

Tjong had agreed to accompany his father to see the airport doctor, but unfortunately that particular doctor had been called away for another medical case at that time.

We acknowledge Tjong's efforts in contacting his father's neurologist and cardiologist to inform our handling agent verbally that his father was fit to travel.

However, we regret that this was insufficient as we do require the necessary documents to be produced before the passenger concerned is allowed to travel.

We then advised Tjong and his family to travel on the next available flight to Solo after getting the necessary medical certification. To ease their inconvenience, we provided them with hotel accommodation for the extra two days that they needed to stay in Singapore.

We also bore the related transport costs and waived the no-show fees for Tjong and his family.

We would like to express our sincere apologies to Tjong and his family for the inconvenience that they had experienced, and hope for their kind understanding.

We value the feedback he has given us and hope that he will allow us the opportunity to provide him with a better flight experience on SilkAir in the future.