Committee of Supply 2023 debate, Day 6: Rahayu Mahzam on ramping up hiring of foreign nurses and protecting well-being of healthcare workers
Singapore is ramping up the recruitment of foreign nurses and should be prepared to grant Permanent Resident (PR) status to those who show they are committed to the country, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam. Speaking in Parliament on Friday (Mar 3), she stressed the need to continue to recruit healthcare workers from diverse sources and ensure that the sector remains attractive to complement the local core of workers. She said the most critical and practical step the Ministry of Health has to take now is to beef up nursing manpower, amid the global competition for healthcare workers, especially for nurses. “We will go through a period of increased inflow of foreign nurses because of their higher attrition in recent years,” she said. Ms Rahayu said the attrition rate for local nurses remained stable between 2019 and 2022, but for foreign nurses, this spiked from 9.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent. “The loss of both local and foreign nurses to our competitor countries is a key reason for the stress and high workload for our nurses. We need to replace the manpower lost to other countries, safeguard the welfare of nurses and meet increasing needs,” she said. Ms Rahayu pointed out that some of these foreign healthcare workers may grow to become valued members of the healthcare community and demonstrate their commitment to Singapore. Singapore should be prepared to grant them PR status because it means retaining a pool of manpower that is of critical value, she said. Ms Rahayu said it is equally important to retain the healthcare workers. The Government will review salaries regularly to ensure that they are paid competitively, she said. Turning to the well-being of healthcare workers, Ms Rahayu cited the findings of a workgroup pointing to abuse becoming more common. Almost one in three healthcare workers witnessed or experienced abuse at least once a week. “We need to take decisive steps to ensure the safety and well-being of our healthcare workers,” she said. These include enhancing protection for healthcare workers by improving and standardising how public healthcare institutions deal with abuse and harassment, a clear and common definition of abuse, steps to prevent potentially abusive situations, as well as promoting trust and respect between patients, caregivers and healthcare workers.
Singapore is ramping up the recruitment of foreign nurses and should be prepared to grant Permanent Resident (PR) status to those who show they are committed to the country, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam. Speaking in Parliament on Friday (Mar 3), she stressed the need to continue to recruit healthcare workers from diverse sources and ensure that the sector remains attractive to complement the local core of workers. She said the most critical and practical step the Ministry of Health has to take now is to beef up nursing manpower, amid the global competition for healthcare workers, especially for nurses. “We will go through a period of increased inflow of foreign nurses because of their higher attrition in recent years,” she said. Ms Rahayu said the attrition rate for local nurses remained stable between 2019 and 2022, but for foreign nurses, this spiked from 9.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent. “The loss of both local and foreign nurses to our competitor countries is a key reason for the stress and high workload for our nurses. We need to replace the manpower lost to other countries, safeguard the welfare of nurses and meet increasing needs,” she said. Ms Rahayu pointed out that some of these foreign healthcare workers may grow to become valued members of the healthcare community and demonstrate their commitment to Singapore. Singapore should be prepared to grant them PR status because it means retaining a pool of manpower that is of critical value, she said. Ms Rahayu said it is equally important to retain the healthcare workers. The Government will review salaries regularly to ensure that they are paid competitively, she said. Turning to the well-being of healthcare workers, Ms Rahayu cited the findings of a workgroup pointing to abuse becoming more common. Almost one in three healthcare workers witnessed or experienced abuse at least once a week. “We need to take decisive steps to ensure the safety and well-being of our healthcare workers,” she said. These include enhancing protection for healthcare workers by improving and standardising how public healthcare institutions deal with abuse and harassment, a clear and common definition of abuse, steps to prevent potentially abusive situations, as well as promoting trust and respect between patients, caregivers and healthcare workers.
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