Salary increase of up to 14% for nurses in public healthcare sector

SINGAPORE: Nurses in the public healthcare sector will receive an increase of 5 to 14 per cent in their monthly base salaries from July.

The increase will be “phased over the next two years”, said Senior Minister of State for Health Koh Poh Koon in Parliament on Friday (Mar 5).   

Other workers in the public healthcare sector like allied health professionals, pharmacists as well as administrative and ancillary staff members, including support care employees, will receive an increase of 3 to 7 per cent in their monthly base salaries this year, he added. 

“We are cognisant that salaries play a key role in the attraction and retention of staff,” Dr Koh said during his ministry's Committee of Supply speech.

"Our healthcare workforce is the lifeblood of our healthcare system, and the work that they do is critical in protecting the health and safety of our society," he added.

“We must maintain the salary competitiveness of healthcare staff against the overall market to attract and retain quality talent."

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The move to increase their salaries was first announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat during his Budget 2021 speech last month as he expressed appreciation to all healthcare workers for their dedication to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The percentage of increase depends on the profession of the employees, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said. 

“Depending on their seniority, depending on their profession ... the adjustments will actually be tailored according to the grade of the officer,” the ministry said, adding that it could not reveal the benchmark for pegging.

For publicly-funded community care organisations, MOH said it will increase the funding support for wages “to ensure that salaries in the community care sector remain competitive”.

An estimated 20,800 employees may benefit from this funding support, MOH said, adding that it will work with the Agency for Integrated Care and the community care organisations to implement these changes over the next two years.

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The ministry last increased nurses’ monthly base salaries in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, it did the same for allied health professionals, pharmacists and administrative and ancillary staff members.

MOH said it works with the public healthcare clusters to regularly review the salaries of healthcare workers in order to maintain market competitiveness.