We thank Ms Liu Shu Fen for her letter “Expand retention scheme for nurses to other healthcare professionals” (March 8).
We value the contributions of all our healthcare workers. To this end, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has enhanced sector salaries of various healthcare professions over the last three years.
Beyond remuneration, we have put in place measures to support the career development and progression of all healthcare workers, as well as to ensure a conducive work environment by preventing abuse and harassment.
The 29,000 nurses in service today make up about one-third of Singapore’s healthcare workforce. As our population ages, we will have to continue to build up our nursing bench to meet the future care needs of Singaporeans.
In this regard, the Award for Nurses’ Grace, Excellence and Loyalty (ANGEL) is focused on encouraging our nurses to build a lifelong career in nursing. The scheme is similar to those offered by the Ministry of Education for teachers and the Ministry of Defence for servicemen. Such long-term retention schemes are most suitable for schemes of service with large numbers of employees, where the Government is the main employer.
For healthcare professions with smaller populations, the focus is on ensuring competitive remuneration and career opportunities.
MOH remains committed to working with our public healthcare clusters and publicly-funded community care organisations to continue to offer competitive terms for the various job groups.
Lavinia Low
Director (Manpower Planning and Strategy)
Human Capital Group
Ministry of Health