MOH Holdings (MOHH) will be retrofitting existing vacant buildings to provide hostel-type accommodation for foreign healthcare workers who are new to Singapore and employed by the public healthcare institutions.
2. Such healthcare hostels are one way to better onboard the healthcare workers after they first arrive here. The hostels will adopt a co-living, hostel-type accommodation concept. Each bedroom is expected to be shared by two occupants, and the facilities will include amenities such as a dining area, pantry, laundry room and common social spaces.
3. This is part of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) plans to ensure a steady flow of healthcare manpower to meet Singapore’s growing healthcare demands. The pipeline comprises local talent which forms the majority of our healthcare workforce, and complemented with trained foreign healthcare workers.
4. MOHH launched a Request for Proposal (RFP) on 7 August 2023 to appoint an operator to retrofit and manage the accommodation facilities at five sites, with the potential to house an estimated 1,800 occupants (about 200 to 600 occupants at each site). The identified sites are:
a) 1A Short Street (site of former student hostel);
b) 100 Ulu Pandan Road (site of former student hostel);
c) 107 Circuit Road (site of former school);
d) 36 & 38 Teck Whye Crescent (site of former school); and
e) 60 Boundary Close (site of former workers’ dormitory).
5. Works at the identified sites are expected to commence from end-2023, and the facilities will progressively be ready from the second quarter of 2024.
6. New foreign healthcare workers employed by the public healthcare institutions, comprising mainly nurses and allied health professionals, will be eligible for this new accommodation arrangement when they first arrive in Singapore, before they subsequently transit to housing options available in the market.
7. The RFP also seeks proposals for another 11 potential sites, which include one brownfield site and 10 greenfield sites, as a preliminary study. MOH and MOHH will monitor the use of the facilities at the five sites listed above, before assessing the need to develop these additional sites.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
MOH HOLDINGS
7 AUGUST 2023