THE recent three-day halt to physical and endurance training throughout the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has confirmed that the safety systems are 'good and sound', said Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean in Parliament on Monday.

The review also revealed that proper processes and procedures are in place and being followed, said the minister when responding to questions from MPs on the outcome of the investigations into the deaths of two servicemen during training in early June.

The unprecedented 'time-out' on physical and endurance training froze all obstacle courses, route marches or fitness tests for the entire force of 300,000 active personnel and national servicemen.

It allowed both commanders and soldiers to re-focus on safety, said Mr Teo on Monday.

The safety of servicemen came under focus following the deaths of pilot trainee Officer Cadet Clifton Lam during a navigation exercise in Brunei's jungles, and Recruit Andrew Cheah, who was on a 2km training walk on Pulau Tekong.

Calls have been made in the wake of the deaths for the SAF to conduct more rigorous medical screenings.

Mr Teo also explained to the House the SAF's medical screening process at several key junctures - before enlistment, before attending specialised courses, before strenuous training or deployment, and periodically after the age of 25.

He said a 12-lead resting electrocardiogram (ECG) screening is conducted for all pre-enlistees, and the SAF has 28 different protocols to address the different cardiac conditions based on their ECG findings.

If abnormalities are found, the pre-enlistees will be sent for additional testing, which may include the stress ECG test or the 2D echo-cardiogram and referral to a cardiologist.

The 12-lead resting ECG screening was introduced in November 2000 on the recommendation by a panel of medical experts. A comprehensive study, published in 1998, showed it was a reliable tool for screening for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), which is one of the more common causes of sudden cardiac death among young adults.

HCM is a disease of the heart muscle in which a portion of the muscle is thickened.

Mr Teo said the ECG screening is an example of how the SAF keeps up with the best and most appropriate screening practices.

'It is guided by an independent panel consisting of top medical consultants and specialists in Singapore that sits regularly to review our medical screening regimes,' he added.

'In a recent review concluded last September, the SAF medical screening protocols were found to be comprehensive, robust and in line with good clinical practice. In fact, the SAF's routine screening for heart disease in pre-enlistees is equivalent to the standards recommended by the European Society of Cardiology and International Olympic Committee, and higher than the standards recommended by the American Heart Association.'

'The SAF's screening protocols are also more comprehensive than those used by many other established armed forces.'

Asked for the number of national servicemen who had died of sudden cardiac arrest, the Minister said there were 23 such deaths from 1995 to 2008. Seven of them were of full-time National Servicemen, three of which occurred during training.