Vernacular Languages at Polyclinics

18 May 2010

Question No:  201   

Question

Name of the Person: Mr Baey Yam Keng

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the proportion of doctors and supporting staff in polyclinics who speak our official languages other than English; and (b) what measures are there to ensure that vernacular speaking patients are not disadvantaged due to communication problems.

Reply

Reply From MOH

In the polyclinics, more than 80% of the doctors can speak Mandarin, Malay or Tamil. For the supporting staff, the ratio is higher at 99%.

In healthcare, communication is an important factor. We need to take the patients’ history and be able to convey our treatment instructions clearly. The majority of our patients can speak in English and communication is not a problem. But for those who cannot, they will be assigned to the healthcare workers with the relevant language skills. Where a match cannot be found, other staff will be roped in to help interpret.

Some of our patients can only converse in a dialect. The same approach is taken to match the patients to the staff with the relevant dialect skill. Most of our staff have, over the years, picked up simple dialects sufficient for their work.