Nursing is an attractive profession

30 Mar 2009, The Straits Times

Question

Name of the Person: Loke Xin Yi (Ms)

Do more to keep home-grown nurses

As a nurse, I was pleasantly surprised by the Government's plans to turn Singapore into a health-care hub.

We have the technology and resources, but are we comparing ourselves with Asian standards or global ones?

Singapore has a large number of foreign workers in the health-care industry. Patients often remark to me that I am the only Singaporean nurse they have encountered during the period of their stay.

They may have exaggerated, but not by much.

I am concerned that the fine balance between employing foreign talent and overpopulation has been compromised.

It would be all right if the health-care industry were like any other industry, but this concerns the health of the nation. In whose hands are we putting our health care?

Is it the case that we do not have Singaporeans willing to take up nursing? It is supposed to be on an upward trend, so where have all the Singaporean nurses gone?

We are losing well-trained, home-grown nurses to countries offering better working conditions, pay and perks.

The vacuum that has been created is being filled by foreign nurses who do not understand our culture and values.

Many of them also have problems communicating with elderly patients here.

Also, many of these foreign nurses typically do not stay on - they leave after five to 10 years.

Why are we not allocating more resources to create a conducive environment for Singaporean nurses to stay put?

If we aspire to be a world-class health-care hub, more must be done.

Reply

Reply from MOH 

Ms Loke Xin Yi observed the large number of foreign nurses here and would like us to "Do more to keep home-grown nurses" (ST, Mar 22).  We agree and we have been doing so, with some success.

We have been enhancing the working conditions, terms of service and job content of our nurses.  We have also been expanding and upgrading the local training of nurses, including undergraduate and postgraduate training of nurses in the NUS.  Diploma level training of nurses has now expanded to the second polytechnic, doubling the training capacity.

While we still have much to do, the results have been promising.  Interest in nursing as a profession has been revived.  Last year, for 1128 nursing places, the polytechnics received over 1700 applicants indicating nursing as a preference  while for 75 nursing places, NUS received 1990 applicants.

Meanwhile, we have been able to reduce the reliance on foreign nurses significantly, to less than 20% today.  But we will continue to recruit foreign nurses.  Globally there is a shortage of nurses.  With aging of population, the shortage here and overseas will only worsen.  We must prepare for this development.

While we will continue to expand our local supply, we must at the same time actively augment it with foreign nurses. Foreign nurses have contributed much to our health and are doing good work, looking after our patients.  Many Singaporeans would remember how they have braved alongside our local nurses during SARS. Many of these foreign nurses have gone on to sink roots here and become new citizens. 

Nursing is a demanding but meaningful career.  We will continue to make it an attractive profession for both Singaporeans and foreigners who are keen to serve our patients here.