Attraction and Retention of Pharmacy Technicians

NOTICE PAPER NO. 3051

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFTER 15 OCTOBER 2024

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Christopher de Souza

MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC

Question No. 6534

To ask the Minister for Health what can be done to support public hospitals to attract and retain pharmacy technicians.

Question No. 6535

To ask the Minister for Health what financial support can be given to public hospitals to allow them to offer competitive salaries to pharmacy technicians.

Answer

1     The Ministry of Health will work with our public healthcare institutions to ensure that there are good career prospects and development opportunities for pharmacy technicians. The Public Sector Pharmacy Technicians Career Development Pathway (Pharm Tech CDP) maps out the career progression pathway for pharmacy technicians, where they will have opportunity to take on expanded responsibilities across key areas such as patient care, procurement, logistics management and medication safety. We will review the Pharm Tech CDP regularly and raise public awareness of the career and professional development opportunities for pharmacy technicians.

2     The starting salaries of Pharmacy Technicians in the public healthcare clusters were increased by 9% in 2023 with additional funding support from MOH. Salaries are reviewed regularly to ensure that they remain competitive.