REMARKS BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM NURSES’ DAY 2023, 22 JULY 2023, 9.00AM, NATIONAL UNVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

1.     Things have gotten a lot better after the COVID-19 pandemic, including in the hospitals. But the hospitals are still very busy. So we are doing whatever we can from now to the end of the year to make things better. Every hospital is doing its part to open up more acute beds. Including Mobile Inpatient Care@Home (MIC@Home), we are adding about half a regional hospital’s worth of beds from now to the end of the year just by squeezing out spaces for beds at some hospitals.

2.     We are opening more Transitional Care Facilities, nursing homes, and step-down care facilities. If we add them all up, they will come up to almost 800 beds, which is equivalent to one regional hospital. This means that from now to the end of the year, we are going to try our best to add to our overall bed capacity with the equivalent of one and a half regional hospitals.

3.     This, I hope, will bring down the workload of our acute hospitals. Of course, we need to recruit more people. We will recruit more fresh nurses from schools and  give them a sign-on bonus. Whoever joins from January this year will get a sign-on bonus of $15,000, paid out over two years.

4.     For existing nurses, we are going to implement a retention incentive. You may know that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has a retention incentive called the SAVER programme. Teachers in the Ministry of Education also have a retention programme called the CONNECT Plan. For nurses, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will also have a retention incentive. We are still thinking of a name for it. If you ask your friends, whether in the SAF or education service as teachers, the retention incentive is not a small thing. We are still thinking about the details, but it will be a significant incentive. So it will be worthwhile for you to stay five years, 10 years, 15 years, and even 20 years, and build your career in nursing.

5.     We all know that while remuneration is important, what is most important is for us to work together as a family. It is important that at a celebration like this, we all come together and support each other. MOH is in charge of policies, and we will always think of ways to create policies that support your work. You, in turn, do your best by working with your fellow professionals as part of the cluster to serve our patients. Whatever we do, we need to put the patients first, and serve them to the best of our ability, and we work together as a family. Nurses’ Day is one of many days in the year that we continue to remind ourselves that we must stay united, and do our best together.

6.     Last but not least, Happy Nurses’ Day to everyone. Thank you for all your contributions!