4-7-2023 (SINGAPORE) Around 1,200 foreign healthcare workers have been granted Permanent Resident (PR) status on average each year over the past five years, according to Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung. More than 60 percent of those granted PR status were nurses, while the remainder included doctors, allied health professionals, and other healthcare workers, he said in a written response to a parliamentary question.
The question was posed by Member of Parliament Tan Wu Meng (PAP-Jurong), who had asked how many foreign healthcare workers have been granted Singapore PR status, and whether those foreign healthcare workers who have stood by Singapore and Singaporeans during the COVID-19 pandemic can be granted PR status more expeditiously.
Mr. Ong noted that more foreign nurses were granted PR status in the past year “in recognition of the essential role they played in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic” and in supporting Singapore’s growing healthcare needs. He added that Singapore’s healthcare workforce comprises a sizeable majority of Singaporeans and foreign manpower from many countries who serve patients alongside each other and go through crises together.
“Foreign healthcare workers are an integral part of our healthcare system, and for those who become valued members of our healthcare community and demonstrate commitment to Singapore, we have been and are prepared to grant them PR status,” said Mr. Ong.
In recent years, global competition for healthcare workers, especially for nurses, has intensified, due to a worldwide nursing shortage and a rising demand for care. Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam said in March this year that the attrition rate for foreign nurses spiked from 9.5 percent to 14.5 percent from 2019 to 2022, while the attrition rate for local nurses remained stable.
She noted that the loss of both local and foreign nurses to competitor countries is a key reason for the stress and high workload for the nurses, adding that Singapore needed to “replace the manpower lost to other countries, safeguard the welfare of nurses, and meet increasing needs.”
Mr. Ong said in November last year that close to 4,000 new nurses will be progressively brought on board by the end of 2023 to replace those “lost” to other countries and to expand the Singapore workforce. He added that the new nurses would make up about 10 percent of Singapore’s nursing workforce.
