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A Meals on Wheels volunteer delivering food to seniors in Toa Payoh came across a police operation at a nearby flat, where an elderly resident had been found dead alone.<\/p>\n
The incident happened at about 10.30am on Wednesday (Nov 11) at Block 52 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, according to volunteer Tony Heng, who has been volunteering with the Meals on Wheels programme under Touch Community Services for about 10 years.<\/p>\n
Speaking to AsiaOne, Heng said the deceased resident lived just two doors away from the unit he was supposed to deliver food to.<\/p>\n
He noticed signs that the door had been forced open and approached police officers at the scene to find out what had happened.<\/p>\n
The officers told him it was a case of an elderly person dying alone, and that the deceased had hit their head, he said.<\/p>\n
An ambulance had already left by the time Heng arrived, while police officers remained at the scene.<\/p>\n
The police told AsiaOne that they received a call for assistance at Block 52 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh at 9.50am, where a 56-year-old man was found lying motionless in a residential unit.<\/p>\n
He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police investigations found no indication of foul play.<\/p>\n
In a social media post recounting the incident, Heng described the scene as one that left a lasting impression on him.<\/p>\n
“There was no family, no neighbour. Just a foul stench that cannot be forgotten,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
He highlighted the vulnerability of seniors living alone, particularly those staying in rental flats.<\/p>\n
Heng noted that Meals on Wheels volunteers may be the only people some elderly residents interact with throughout the day.<\/p>\n
He urged members of the public to look out for elderly neighbours who live alone, including checking on them if their doors remain closed for extended periods or if their meals appear untouched.<\/p>\n
“Knock. Ask if they are okay,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
He also encouraged people to consider volunteering with Meals on Wheels, noting that the programme requires volunteers for two-hour shifts on Wednesdays, from 9.30am to 11.30am.<\/p>\n
“You might be the reason someone is not alone,” he added.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health doesn’t track the number of elderly who die alone at home<\/a>, but the Health Sciences Authority reportedly handles fewer than 100 unclaimed bodies each year.<\/p>\n At least 33 seniors died alone and went undiscovered for a period of time in 2025, according to figures compiled by social service agency Loving Heart from media reports and online sources, including Death Kopitiam Singapore, a platform that discusses issues related to death and dying.<\/p>\n In 2024, at least 42 such cases were recorded, reported The Straits Times earlier this year.<\/p>\n The police reportedly do not track the number of people who die alone and whose bodies are not discovered for a period of time.<\/p>\n Some 79,000 residents aged 65 and above lived alone in 2022, according to government data, with the number set to grow as one in four Singaporeans will be 65 or older by 2030.<\/p>\n [[nid:750881]]<\/span><\/p>\n asyiqin.nadzri@asiaone.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n A Meals on Wheels volunteer delivering food to seniors in Toa Payoh came across a police operation at a nearby flat, where an elderly resident…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/99240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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