This seal, entitled "A Smile Behind the Mask" (口罩背后的微笑), is carved by Dr. Yew Tong Wei (尤东暐), a Consultant and Diabetes Clinical Service Director for the Division of Endocrinology, NUH. During the pandemic, Dr. Yew rotated through the pandemic wards and also volunteered to serve in the foreign-worker dormitories. One morning, during a usual ward round in a non-COVID-19 ward, a patient returned a very warm smile when he smiled subconsciously to her while wearing a mask. This seemingly small incident struck him and made him realise how a smile can be seen and felt even from behind a mask. He also reflected that he was not smiling to his patients as often as he had been before the pandemic broke out. To record this incident and reflection and to prompt himself to smile more, he carved a stone seal entitled "A Smile Behind the Mask" (口罩背后的微笑) depicting the Chinese character “笑” (smile) in seal script behind a surgical mask motif.
