Amy Khor Lean Suan
Singapore
“Sir, NEA does conduct inspections of these premises from time to time. For this particular premises, they actually did six inspections since 2021.”
“The Land Transport Authority (LTA) conducts enforcement actions against drivers who are found to have provided illegal car-pooling services. An individual who provides an illegal car-pooling service may face a fine of up to $3,000, up to six months' imprisonment, or both.”
“We will also provide the first 500 private heavy vehicle chargers co-funding of up to 50% of the charger installation cost, capped at $30,000 per charger. These measures will narrow the lifecycle cost gap between an electric and internal combustion engine heavy vehicle and spur adoption of electric heavy vehicles.”
“With regard to the extension of the lower speed limit to school zones for full day, we will work with the relevant agencies on the enhanced enforcements.”
“They will provide a certain amount of protection to the pedestrians because, as I have said, the bollards will absorb the impact of the collision from the vehicles. So, there is a protection. But ultimately, of course, road safety really depends on a multitude of factors, including road user behaviour.”
“The bollards installed at pedestrian crossings by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are not of the K4, K8 or K12 standards stated by the Member. Bollards of these standards are typically security bollards. They are installed to protect critical infrastructure or at high security areas, such as Changi Airport, to be unyielding.”
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“In reply to Mr Low's question about the foreign-local ratio for doctors and nurses, first, let me affirm that our priority is to build a strong local core of healthcare workforce, whether it is medical, nursing, AHPs or even healthcare support staff. So, the top priority is to build a strong local workforce. And, as I have said earlier, first of all, our medical intake has been increasing over the years and, with the addition of the new medical school, our intake will increase to 500 eventually. The AHPs, again, because we are working with SIT to convert some of the programmes into a degree programme, in fact, the first intake was over-subscribed by many times. So, we should be able to increase this further. Our target this year is to increase it by another 30%. For nurses, that has been a challenge. It decreased for a while but with intensive efforts to reach out to students as well as even mid-career professionals through our PCP programmes, the intake for fresh students has turned around and it is increasing. So, currently, as I have noted earlier also, the foreign workforce for doctors is about 16% and for nursing it is 33%. For doctors, actually, it is has been going down. It was 18% for a couple of years, or between 18% and 19%. It has now gone down to 16%. What we hope to do is to build up a strong local workforce. We have even implemented a pre-employment grant for overseas Singaporean medical students. We have managed to attract quite a number. Let me say, through the pre-employment grants, we have attracted some 700 Singaporean medical and dental students studying overseas between 2012 and 2016. That is in addition to our local intakes which have also been increasing.”
“The other one is on bone health, so we are targeting campaigns working towards World Osteoporosis Day, with targeted campaigns to raise awareness among women about the importance of bone health from young, not just for women in the older age groups. The third one, I am pleased to announce, is in support of diabetes. We are also working with the public hospitals to promote greater awareness about gestational diabetes. In fact, now, gestational diabetes screening is available in all public hospitals for pregnant women. And that is important because studies have shown that, if you pick them early, then it will help to reduce complications during pregnancy as well as reduce the risk of having type-2 diabetes for the mother and child later on through preventive programmes. 2.45 pm HPB will also be designing and developing a mobile pregnancy app on HealthHub for pregnant women so that they can monitor their blood pressure level, blood sugar level as well as the body mass index (BMI). In addition to that, we will also be reaching out through the community to raise awareness about Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and to get people who had GDM to take preventive measures to reduce their risk of type-2 diabetes developing later on.”
“First, I want to thank Dr Chia Shi-Lu for speaking in the interest of women and I must acknowledge that actually Dr Lily Neo also asked about women's health in her cut earlier. First, let me say that women's health is an important priority for Singapore simply because they face significant health losses due to the various disease groups that affect them, as well as the fact that, of course, they have a longer life expectancy. As Dr Lily Neo says, they now still spend the longer life years in disability. The Women's Health Advisory Committee, now known as the Women's Health Committee, was established in 2012. One key focus is on promoting screening, such as cancer screening and breast cancer screening, and we have worked with the Breast Cancer Foundation since 2012, particularly for low-income women. Since 2012, we have been offering mammograms for women from low-income families at no cost, together with Breast Cancer Foundation, and we have reached out to about 25,000 women. In addition, we have promoted healthy lifestyle and habits to women at the workplace through our women's workplace health grant to about 108 companies. This programme has morphed into a workplace grant for companies with particular programmes that they can pick up. The others will be outreach into the community through health talks, for instance, through HPB, as well as we have a women's health calendar that we have been publishing for many years, and in the vernacular also, to reach out to women. Currently, we are promoting women's health in three aspects: firstly, is continuation of promoting breast cancer screening as well as follow-up through new outreach programmes and campaigns.”
“We will conduct a further public consultation on standardised packaging this year to seek additional and more detailed views on possible standardised packaging measures. We will carefully review relevant considerations, including public health, intellectual property and international law perspectives, and ensure that any measures taken are consistent with our domestic law and international obligations. We will continue to monitor international best practices in tobacco control and will adopt appropriate measures to control tobacco use. 1.45 pm In conclusion, as healthcare needs continue to increase, we need to make bold changes in our healthcare delivery and workforce so that we can achieve our vision of better health and better care for all Singaporeans now and in the future.”
“HPB has a programme called "I Quit" that supports smokers to quit. It will extend the programme's outreach through roadshows at various community and workplace settings this year. We want to protect our young from the harms of tobacco and lay the foundations for good health. In Singapore, nearly half or 45% of smokers become regular smokers between the ages of 18 and 21. According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), persons who do not start smoking before the age of 21 "are unlikely to ever begin". Findings from Needham, Massachusetts, the first US town to increase its minimum legal age (MLA) for sale of tobacco from 18 to 21, are promising. Youth smoking rates have fallen more rapidly here, compared to neighbouring areas. At least 215 localities in the US, including New York City and the states of Hawaii and California, have since increased their MLA to 21. Between December 2015 and March 2016, HPB conducted public consultation on further tobacco control measures. The feedback showed considerable support for raising the MLA in Singapore. MOH will take further steps to reduce, if not eliminate, the opportunities for our young to be tempted and to take up smoking before 21. We will propose legislative changes to Parliament within a year to raise the MLA for sale of tobacco products to minors, from 18 to 21. The change will be phased in over a few years. We are taking steps towards standardising tobacco packaging. Australia, France and the UK have all implemented standardised packaging. We have closely studied the experience of these countries and seen significant value in moving in this direction so as to reduce the appeal of tobacco products, particularly to youths, and raise the visibility and effectiveness of health warnings.”
“AIC will act as a "first responder" to mental health needs identified in the community and coordinate care across the health and social sectors. Community partners and caregivers looking after persons with mental health needs may call the Singapore Silver Line (SSL) or email for assistance and support. By 2021, we target to respond and support about 1,000 cases a year, up from the current 500. Third, we will expand mental health and dementia services in polyclinics to make care more accessible. Our target is for one in two polyclinics to implement mental health clinics by 2021. Fourth, MOH and MSF will work together to strengthen integrated health and social care services in the community. AIC will partner and support social service agencies so that they can support clients with stable mental health conditions. We will also expand our network of community outreach teams from the current 18 to 50 by 2021, to educate the public on mental health and reach out to vulnerable and at-risk individuals. MOH will increase the number of allied health community intervention teams from 14 to 18 by financial year (FY) 2021, to support GPs, community and grassroots organisations in caring for persons with mental health conditions. Finally, we will strengthen IMH's post-discharge "after-care" support. MOH will resource IMH to widen their case management support so that more IMH patients will be supported in the post-discharge period and transit well back home. IMH expects to be able to support an additional 3,000 patients over the next five years, on top of the current 8,000 patients. As we move beyond healthcare to health, we need to do more to tackle factors that contribute to ill-health and diseases. Tobacco use is one such major contributor in Singapore.”
“We also provide an annual training grant of $200 for caregivers of seniors and persons with disabilities. MOH is also leveraging technology to care for seniors. We have started several pilots on senior monitoring using technology in Yuhua, Bedok and Marine Parade. Under the Community Network for Seniors pilot in Tampines, Eastern Health Alliance is piloting a call centre service called "Careline" to support seniors living alone. Seniors enrolled in the service can call the Careline should they need help. Careline will also make regular calls to seniors and provide them with useful health information. In line with Dr Lily Neo's suggestion, we are also working with MND and HDB to study new forms of housing and care options for seniors to age-in-place. Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef and Ms Tin Pei Ling, as well as Mr Dennis Tan and Ms Joan Pereira, asked about support for mental health. MOH will further strengthen care in the community over the next five years in five ways. First, to improve the early identification of mental health symptoms, frontline staff of selected Government agencies, such as HDB, the Singapore Police Force (SPF), the National Environment Agency (NEA), community partners and social service agencies, will receive basic training on mental health conditions. They will be trained to identify and respond to persons with mental health issues in the community, such as referring these persons to AIC for help. We will also continue to create more Dementia-Friendly Communities (DFCs), where residents, businesses and other partners are trained to identify and assist seniors with dementia. Second, we will strengthen our response to mental health needs in the community.”
“The proportion of foreign doctors has decreased from 18% in end 2012. We will work to help our foreign workforce assimilate to the local environment to meet our healthcare needs. As Dr Chia Shi-Lu mentioned, it is also important to ensure that good staff are retained. Through various efforts, we have reduced our public healthcare staff attrition rate from 10.1% to 8.4% between 2012 and 2016. Attrition for nurses has decreased from 8.4% in 2012 to 6.5% in 2016. But the formal workforce is only one part of our care system. Caregivers play just as, if not a more important role, in our healthcare ecosystem. Assoc Prof Daniel Goh asked about our plans to support caregivers of seniors. We have expanded home and centre-based care services, as well as respite care services, including weekend respite at our SCCs, where caregivers can place their loved ones to be cared for, while they run errands or take a short break. AIC also started a three-year pilot since September 2015 to embed more comprehensive caregiver support services within five SCCs. These include supporting caregivers' emotional and psycho-social needs and assisting them with information and referral services. For caregivers requiring further assistance, the SCCs will also link them to a central pool of social work support. AIC has also rolled out AICareLinks at five hospitals and at its office at Maxwell Road. These are one-stop counters where caregivers can receive advice on services and schemes. Caregivers can also call AIC's Singapore Silver Line to receive assistance over the phone. The Government has also supported households which need to hire FDWs to care for seniors and disabled persons with a reduced FDW levy of $60 per month and an FDW Grant of $120 per month.”
“MOH is collaborating with SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) to develop a Skills Framework for the healthcare sector to support healthcare workers in their professional and career development. For a start, we will focus on developing the Skills Framework for nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, pharmacy technicians and support care staff, and this is targeted for launch in end-2018. MOH is working closely with MSF to ensure that the Skills Framework is applicable to their counterparts in the social service sector. We will further develop the capabilities of our pharmacy workforce. Last year, we implemented the National Pharmacy Residency Programme to train specialist pharmacists, with a total of 15 residents enrolled to date. In addition, we are developing advanced pharmacy practitioners through the Advanced Practice Competency Framework for Pharmacists. This framework serves as a developmental tool for pharmacists to gear towards advanced level competencies. To upskill our pharmacy technicians, we developed the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme leading to an Advanced Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences in collaboration with Nanyang Polytechnic. This 18-month structured work-learn programme aims to enhance core competencies of pharmacy technicians so that they can take on bigger roles. Training for the first batch is slated to start in April this year. Even as we grow and develop our healthcare workforce to meet current and future needs, we recognise that with a shrinking local labour force, we will need to supplement our core local healthcare workforce with foreign manpower. Currently, foreign doctors and nurses make up 16% and 33% of our total medical and nursing workforce respectively.”
“We are targeting 20 community nursing scholars annually. This exposure to community nursing will also become part of the leadership development of nursing leaders so that they will gain competencies across both acute and community care. The third area of focus is on developing competencies to prepare nurses for the future. A more fundamental review of our nursing training system is needed so that we can better support nurses in developing deeper, future-ready skills in their nursing career. For instance, we will need to enhance the recognition of the skills and competencies that ENs have acquired at work to facilitate experienced ENs to undertake an accelerated diploma upgrading course to become RNs. For RNs, the Advanced Diploma courses will be reviewed to support more flexible, modularised ways of learning so that more can upgrade themselves. MOH has convened a Nursing Education Executive Committee (NEEC) comprising nursing leaders and will complete its review by 2018. Over the next few months, MOH will work with the Healthcare Services Employees' Union and healthcare institutions to engage nurses through focus group discussions to hear more ideas to implement the Committee's recommendations. With these three shifts, nurses can look forward to more meaningful and dynamic careers across the acute and community care sectors. With more time dedicated to direct patient care, nurses can better focus on what they are trained for and what they are passionate about. Patients can look forward to more integrated care and care within the community. Beyond nursing, we are working to build a future-ready healthcare workforce across all healthcare professions.”
“The RHSes will expand the existing pilot manpower partnership scheme under which they hire and deploy nurses across their community care partners. RHSes will also pilot a community nursing team network, comprising nurses and support care staff, to provide seamless care to patients from hospital to home and help seniors age in place. The RHSes have started a network of community nursing teams providing preventive and transitional care in the northern and eastern regions, which have served over 3,000 clients to date. These RHS-level community services and partnerships with community care providers will give nurses greater exposure to different aspects of community nursing for a more diverse career. MOH will work with the nursing profession to develop Community Nursing as a distinctive career track in its own right, with a comprehensive competency framework that covers the skills needed for different roles in the community. This will underpin a more holistic system of training and deployment of community nurses. We will start building a pipeline for nurses to enter the community care sector. MOH plans to introduce a Community Nursing Scholarship later this year to attract GCE "O" and "A" level students into nursing with specialisation in community nursing. The Community Nursing Scholarship will support students who choose to undergo the nursing diploma or degree courses and offer them clinical attachments with community institutions and work in the community care setting after graduation. They will be further supported to undergo the Advanced Diploma in Community Nursing to gain deeper skills in community nursing. The scholarship will also support in-service nurses who are keen to join community nursing to deepen their skills via local and overseas programmes.”
“We have since enhanced professional development, career advancement and recognition for nurses. Going forward, we will have to meet higher healthcare needs with a more constrained workforce. This challenge would be felt more acutely for the nursing profession as the over 34,000 practising nurses currently form the largest professional group of the healthcare workforce. Also, nurses are needed to anchor primary and aged care to lead care transformation. Therefore, MOH set up the Future Nursing Career Review Committee in April last year, comprising nursing leaders from across the different care settings. The Committee has identified three strategic areas of focus, namely, Care, Community and Competency, to develop a future-ready nursing workforce. The first area of focus is job and process redesign to enable nurses to focus more on patient care. We encourage public healthcare institutions to undertake a comprehensive review of nurses' roles so that they can spend more time on direct patient care and take on deeper nursing care roles. For example, the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) has introduced a digital nursing handover notes system to minimise the time spent handing over patients' case notes between shifts. Experienced ENs can be trained to take on more complex procedures, such as wound care, administering oral medications and giving subcutaneous and intramuscular injections 1.30 pm The second area of focus is to develop community nursing. If we want to go beyond healthcare to health, we need nurses to deliver preventive health in the community. If we want to go beyond hospitals to the community and home, we need nurses to support patients with good day and home-based care.”
“In 2016, AIC helped 400 locals find jobs in the aged care sector through four job fairs, with about 25 participating aged care providers. This year, AIC will enhance the Community Care Traineeship Programme (CCTP), which is a Place and Train programme, by including more structured bite-sized training under the programme to help Singaporeans take up healthcare and therapy assistant roles. In addition, MOH will provide on-the-job training support of $10,000 to employers for each new care worker, to better facilitate mentoring, supervision and development of the new hires. Besides care staff, the aged care sector will need PMETs to join its workforce to lead the new institutions. Mid-career Singaporeans with managerial experience can tap on the Senior Management Associate Scheme (SMAS) to switch careers to the aged care sector. In addition, MOH will enhance our "Return to Nursing" programme to encourage non-practising local nurses to rejoin the healthcare sector and, in particular, to take up new positions in the aged care sector. Non-practising nurses employed by aged care providers will receive support for their refresher training course fees and draw full salaries now, instead of training allowances during their three-month training. They will also be able to enjoy a bonus of between $3,000 and $5,000 for transiting into the aged care sector. Mdm Chairman, we need to nurture a future-ready healthcare workforce that can support our efforts to transform our healthcare delivery. Ms K Thanaletchimi asked about the Ministry's efforts to further develop the nursing profession. MOH set up the National Nursing Taskforce in 2012 to strengthen the development of the nursing profession.”
“We have also improved the designs of nursing homes to provide more greenery and a cosier living environment. Since 2014, we have also put in place the Enhanced Nursing Home Standards (ENHS) which was developed in consultation with the sector to not only guide consistent, safe and quality care in homes, but also to ensure that the psycho-social needs of residents are met. MOH conducts licensing checks to ensure that nursing homes uphold these standards. We impose measures, such as a shorter licensing period, on nursing homes with severe or repeated non-compliances. The licensing period of each nursing home is available online for the public's reference. We will continue to support the sector in improving their quality of care, including sharing good practices beyond the enhanced standards amongst providers. But the needs for aged care are not and should not be met by nursing homes alone. In fact, most Singaporeans prefer to age at home. So, we should work towards making nursing home care an option of last resort. To achieve this, MOH is strengthening home and community care options to help seniors avoid institutionalisation and age comfortably at home and in the community. Between 2016 and 2020, MOH aims to increase day and home care services by 40%. Today, many seniors are also cared for at home by foreign domestic workers (FDWs) and the Government provides FDW grants to some 6,900 households caring for seniors. With home care, centre-based care, trained domestic workers and nursing home places, we can adequately support the needs of seniors in 2020 and beyond. The growth in the aged care sector means we have new job positions for care staff across the island, offering Singaporeans a chance to work closer to home.”
“Besides enhancing the local PCPs, MOH will introduce a new overseas nursing scholarship under the Healthcare Graduate Studies Award (HGSA) for non-nursing degree graduates, including fresh graduates and those with prior work experience. Awardees can pursue an overseas Graduate Entry Masters (GEM) nursing programme and will join the nursing profession as RNs after their studies. They will be fully sponsored for their nursing course, including tuition fees and maintenance allowances. We target to give out 20 such nursing scholarships annually. There are also non-clinical roles for PMETs in the healthcare sector. Our public healthcare clusters will offer administrative and executive positions under WSG's PCP for professional executives, in areas like human resource and hospital operations. The Regional Health Systems (RHSes) will be training more mid-career Singaporeans as Care Coordinator Associates, to coordinate the care services required by patients post-discharge and empower patients to manage their conditions well at home. Several public hospitals have created Basic Care Assistant positions to help nurses provide personal care to patients, such as feeding and transferring. This will free up nurses' time to concentrate on their clinical duties. MOH will be providing employers with on-the-job training support of $10,000 for each Basic Care Assistant hired. The public hospitals aim to recruit about 200 Singaporeans for these part-time positions over the next three years. There are even more job opportunities in the aged care sector. In the past five years, MOH has increased aged care capacity substantially and is on track to increase our nursing home capacity to 17,000 beds by 2020, an increase of 33% from 2016.”
“In 2016, MOH worked with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) to introduce four degree-level allied health programmes (AHPs) in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, diagnostic radiography and radiation therapy. Two hundred and thirty students were admitted in the first cohort. This year, SIT will be increasing the number of places for these AHP courses by 30% to 300 students for fresh school leavers and mid-career professionals. I agree with Mr Patrick Tay that we would like to attract more mid-career Singaporeans into healthcare. MOH will invest an additional $24 million over the next three years to enhance our healthcare conversion and training programmes to enable more mid-career Singaporeans to take up new careers in the sector. MOH and WSG have established PCPs for mid-career Singaporeans to be trained as registered nurses (RNs) and enrolled nurses (ENs), physiotherapists, occupational therapists and diagnostic radiographers. The latest PCP for dental surgery assistants (DSAs) was launched in November 2016. Since 2003, over 1,000 locals have participated in the Healthcare PCPs. This year, MOH will further increase funding for nursing PCP training so that employers co-fund only 10% of the training cost, down from the current 20% to 50%. We will also provide new on-the-job training support of $12,000 per mid-career EN and $16,000 per mid-career RN to employers. The funding will encourage employers to admit more PCP-trained nurses and enable them to better support these nurses in their transition to a new career. We will also tap on MOM's new Attach and Train scheme to enable more mid-career Singaporeans to take up PCP nursing training.”
“Thank you. Madam, we need to grow our healthcare workforce to support the increasing healthcare demand due to an ageing population and growing chronic disease burden. We also need to transform our healthcare workforce in order to support care transformation that Minister Gan spoke about, so that we can sustainably achieve better health and better care for all. The positive news is that growth in the healthcare sector will bring many good jobs, clinical and non-clinical, and at different levels, for Singaporeans. In the next three years, we estimate that about 9,000 additional staff will be needed for new facilities and services in the public healthcare and aged care settings. Approximately 50% of these jobs are PMET-level roles. These include nurses, therapists, administrative executives and operations managers. Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Mr Patrick Tay asked what the Ministry is doing to help Singaporeans access these jobs. We will support young school leavers to join healthcare. Over the past five years, the number of graduates for medical and allied health has generally increased, while the number of graduates for nursing has decreased. However, we have made consistent efforts in the past few years to enhance nursing in terms of career progression, professional development and recognition. The positive news is that intakes have increased. MOH has attracted more students to join nursing programmes in the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), polytechnics and NUS, from 1,500 in 2012 to over 1,800 in 2016. Overall, our intake for nursing has increased by 20%. We will continue to sustain efforts to enhance the attractiveness of nursing. Mr Christopher de Souza suggested that we develop our local allied health professional workforce.”
“Madam, may I please show some slides to accompany my speech?”
“Thank you, Madam. I just wanted to make a further clarification about the PWCS. What we are doing is to make it mandatory for private non-landed residential developments with 500 units or more to have PWCS. But that does not preclude anybody else with less than 500 units to put in a PWCS system if they wish. In fact, there are already private residential developments with less than 500 dwelling units where they have already implemented PWCS. When I talked about HDB dwelling units, what I am saying is that HDB has announced that they will be implementing PWCS in some of the new estates. Of course, they have done one at Yuhua, which is an existing estate. It will depend on HDB's plans, going forward, where else they will be implementing the PWCS system.”
“I thank the Member for the question. As I have said, really, we can only do so much, and education and outreach must go hand in hand. It is key for the National Recycling Programme, where there are recycling bins at every HDB block, one of the issues, of course, is contamination. We need to continually go out, do outreach, put up signages about proper recycling habits as well as to educate residents on proper recycling habits. Even with the dual-chute system, we will still need to reach out and educate residents as to how they use these chutes properly. That experience is the same even in the private residential developments. There is no shortcut. We need to go out and reach out. I want to encourage all Members in this House to work together with us, rally our grassroots and volunteers to reach out regarding, not just imbuing proper recycling habits, but socially-gracious behaviour like not littering, for instance.”
“I will have to check if we, indeed, do have this. I know that we have enforcement officers there to check for smoky vehicles. In fact, I suppose our enforcement officers can also check for noise pollution.”
“The plan now is to roll it out to the new HDB estates because, to put in the infrastructure, greenfield, will be much easier and more cost-effective to do. But in Yuhua, we have implemented the PWCS for an existing estate. We will have to phase this out but, currently, the plan is for the new HDB estates.”
“This, in turn, will allow Singaporeans to continue enjoying affordable food in a clean and hygienic environment. Lastly, let me give an update on our dengue cases. Despite earlier concerns that warmer weather would contribute to a spike in dengue cases to beyond 30,000 last year, we managed to bring the situation under control. There were instead 13,000 dengue cases last year. The World Health Organization has also commended our efforts in managing the Zika outbreak. However, we cannot be complacent and should remain vigilant by doing the five-step Mozzie Wipeout. Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked for an update on the small-scale field studies of Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes that commenced last year. We have seen encouraging results so far. About half of the Aedes aegypti eggs collected from a trial site were unable to hatch. Our panel of international experts recently affirmed the good progress and expressed their support for NEA's plan to move to the next phase of the suppression trial later this year. Mdm Chairman, in conclusion, everyone must take responsibility for the environment. To achieve the vision of a liveable and sustainable Singapore, as laid out in our Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, everyone needs to be part of the solution. The little things that we do, like throwing away our trash properly, recycling our waste responsibly and returning our trays with the crockery properly, can make a big difference. With the support of this House, Singaporeans can rise up and do this together.”
“Through the Hawkers' Productivity Grant, we hope to encourage a greater adoption of such labour-saving equipment. Third, more than just dining spaces, hawker centres are places where Singaporeans of all walks of life can interact. In response to the Committee's recommendation to encourage regular organised activities at hawker centres in a sustainable manner, I am happy to announce that we will be providing funding support of $2,000 per event to adopters of hawker centres, up to an annual cap of $10,000 for each adopter, to organise events to enhance the vibrancy of hawker centres. Such events can enhance patrons' dining experience at hawker centres, while increasing footfall and benefiting hawkers. 4.15 pm Fourth, on graciousness in hawker centres, people recognise that the act of tray-return is a kind and considerate behaviour to be cultivated. To Mr Png Eng Huat's question, we introduced tray-return to hawker centres in 2012 and, since 2015, tray-return facilities have been implemented in all hawker centres. The tray-return rates vary, with the highest tray-return rates at Tiong Bahru Market, Blk 157 Tampines Street 11 and Our Tampines Hub. We have also been working on making tray-return stations more visible, prominent and accessible, as seen in the newer hawker centres. To study how to further improve tray return rates, we are also currently running a pilot involving the use of specially designed tray decals and working with our cleaning contractor at Zion Riverside Food Centre to train the cleaners to encourage patrons to clear their trays after their meals. These initiatives that we are rolling out are part of our efforts to ensure the sustainability and viability of the hawker trade. They should help to support both existing and aspiring hawkers.”
“This will include some funding to increase the adoption of centre-level productivity initiatives, like centralised dishwashing and stall-level productivity initiatives like the purchase of kitchen automation equipment. (In English): We recognise that hawkers are concerned about the cost of productivity initiatives. Hence, as noted earlier, to alleviate these cost concerns, the Government will set aside about $90 million to facilitate the adoption of productivity initiatives in hawker centres. The funding will support the progressive reconfiguration of up to 25 existing centres over the next few years to facilitate the rolling out of centre-level productivity initiatives, such as centralised dishwashing integrated with tray return, and cashless payment solutions similar to those seen at the hawker centre in Our Tampines Hub or Ci Yuan Hawker Centre. We will also co-fund up to 70% of the operating cost of such initiatives for hawkers in these centres for a period of time. This will help lower the initial cost of adoption of productivity measures that will help realise manpower and cost savings in the long term. To promote stall-level productivity, we will set up a Hawkers' Productivity Grant to co-fund the purchase of suitable kitchen automation equipment for cooked food stallholders. Each stallholder can claim 80% of the qualifying cost of the equipment on a reimbursement basis, up to a total of $5,000 within three years. Hawkers can start applying for this grant in the third quarter of this year. Some hawkers are already using kitchen automation equipment. When I visited Smith Street Food Centre recently, I came across a cooked food stallholder who sells steamed yam cakes. She uses an automated stirrer to mix ingredients which reduces a lot of manual labour.”
“In the second half of this year, we will set up a one-stop information and service centre, which will provide useful information to both existing and aspiring hawkers, like how to tender for a stall, where to go for courses on food hygiene and the hawker trade, and the range of kitchen automation equipment available. During the second half of the year, we will also be launching an incubation stall programme, where some hawker stalls at several hawker centres will be pre-fitted by NEA to let eligible aspiring hawkers try out being a hawker for a period of, say, six months. This will allow them to decide if they are cut out for the trade without putting in heavy investments. Mdm Chairman, with your permission, I would like to say a few words in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Committee's second recommendation focuses on improving productivity of the hawker centres. The Committee recommended that the Government implement productivity measures in the hawker centres to help hawkers reduce their workload and address the manpower challenges that hawkers are facing. In fact, productivity initiatives, such as centralised dishwashing and cashless payment, are already a requirement in the new hawker centres. Some stallholders in existing centres have also voluntarily subscribed to centralised dishwashing services, such as those at Boon Lay Place Market and Food Centre. The Government will set aside $90 million to facilitate the adoption of productivity initiatives, which will help lighten the workload of hawkers and address manpower constraints.”
“0 Committee's recommendations. I am pleased to announce that the Ministry has accepted all the recommendations. We will, therefore, work together with relevant stakeholders to implement them. Let me highlight a few plans that we will put in place in the coming months. First, one key recommendation is for the Government to provide training opportunities and pathways for aspiring hawkers − young or the not-so-young. For a start, we are working with the People's Association to develop a "Hawker Fare" series of culinary classes, starting in May. Members of the public can learn how to cook hawker dishes, like chicken rice, yong tau foo and mee goreng from the veteran hawkers themselves. While not all trainees will eventually become hawkers, such courses will also help to generate interest in hawker food and culture among Singaporeans and contribute to sustaining the hawker trade in the long run. There are a handful of culinary certification courses in the market today. However, these courses are largely not tailored for the hawker trade. Hence, in addition to the Hawker Fare series that focuses on culinary skills, we are working with ITE to develop a separate short course to teach aspiring hawkers relevant business management skills, like basic profit and loss analysis and how to tender for a stall, to help them set up and manage a hawker business. More details will be released later in the year. We welcome other interested parties, such as training providers, to work with us to provide appropriate training to aspiring hawkers.”
“Allowing NFC to manage a bundle of hawker centres will enable them to have the necessary scale to enhance the vibrancy and hygiene standards across more hawker centres, as well as the flexibility to experiment with new ideas and processes, to benefit patrons and hawkers. This is the first expanded pilot and we would need to evaluate the results of this approach before we decide on the next steps. We are calling for tenders for the two new centres in Yishun and Jurong West. The tenders are open to all socially-conscious operators who are interested to manage the centres. We will select the best tender proposal to ensure that our hawker centres continue to fulfil the fundamental objective of providing affordable food in a hygienic environment while allowing our hawkers to make a decent livelihood. To Assoc Prof Daniel Goh's query on subsidised rent in new centres, subsidised rents were offered to encourage street hawkers to relocate to hawker centres in the 1970s and early 1980s. Some hawkers were also allowed to operate stalls at subsidised rents under the previous hardship scheme, which was discontinued in 1990. Since then, all new hawkers are required to pay rental at market rate. Hence, there are no subsidised rents in all our new centres. Last year, I announced the formation of a Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee to review and make recommendations to improve the management of hawker centres and ensure the sustainability of the hawker trade to benefit Singaporeans. Following a year of extensive consultations with many stakeholders, including hawkers, patrons, cleaning service providers and members of the public, the Committee submitted the recommendations to the Minister in February this year. Mr Liang asked about the response to the Hawker Centre 3.”
“Not only do they serve an important function of providing affordable food in a clean environment, they are key social spaces where people from all walks of life can enjoy a meal together. The Government had previously announced that 20 new hawker centres will be ready by 2027. This will add about 800 more cooked food stalls across the island. I am pleased to update that three new hawker centres have been completed so far, with the latest being at Our Tampines Hub, which commenced operations in November last year. As highlighted by Assoc Prof Daniel Goh, NEA has been exploring alternative management models by engaging socially-conscious operators, such as NTUC Foodfare, Fei Siong and OTMH, as managing agents for our hawker centres. The feedback from both hawkers and patrons of these centres has been largely positive. NFC, in particular, is an established socially-conscious operator and has been managing the existing Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre since 2014. Rentals at these centres have remained unchanged and food prices have been kept largely stable. Besides monitoring food prices for affordability and ensuring that any price revision is justified, these operators have put in place initiatives like offering bulk purchase of ingredients to help hawkers reduce their cost, or putting in place productivity measures, such as centralised dish washing, to help hawkers address their manpower constraints. Given the encouraging outcomes of these initial efforts, we have extended this approach to other hawker centres. We have appointed NFC to manage a group of five existing centres with incumbent stallholders and two new centres.”
“We will look into progressively extending the smoking prohibition in other areas. We recently set up five Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) in Orchard Road to study the effectiveness of DSAs in reducing smoking in a commercial area. We hope this will encourage smokers to be considerate by smoking only at the DSAs. This study, when completed at the end of the year, will inform us on the public's reception towards DSAs and give us insight into the location and design considerations of DSAs. We will take into consideration the results of this study before we consider extending the implementation of DSAs to other locations. On public cleanliness, we have stepped up enforcement against littering. NEA issued more than 31,000 tickets to litterbugs last year. This is almost 18% more than 2015 and the highest since 2009. To Mr Gan Thiam Poh's question about the effectiveness of CWOs, over the past five years, less than 6% of litterbugs who have undergone CWOs have been caught for littering again. Mr Gan also asked about the effectiveness of cameras against high-rise littering. NEA adopted the use of surveillance cameras in August 2012 and has since made more than 4,100 deployments and taken more than 3,300 enforcement actions against high-rise litterbugs. These cameras create an effective deterrent effect, as only about 1% of high-rise litterbugs are caught offending again. But beyond enforcement, the most effective and sustainable way to have a litter-free environment is to inculcate the right social values, so that the responsibility for keeping Singapore clean and caring for our environment is part of everyone's DNA. Madam, our hawker centres are a unique and integral part of Singapore's identity.”
“In the public sector, HDB piloted the PWCS at Yuhua estate in Jurong under the HDB Greenprint Programme and will be installing PWCS in new HDB areas, such as Tampines North and Bidadari. Private developers, such as City Developments Limited and CapitaLand, have done likewise. To date, more than 100 condominium developments, such as the Palette at Pasir Ris and Sky Habitat at Bishan, have installed the PWCS. Therefore, to improve the efficiency and hygiene of waste collection, all new non-landed private residential developments with at least 500 dwelling units will need to be installed with PWCS. This measure will apply to all new non-landed residential development applications submitted from 1 April 2018. We have consulted extensively with industry players, including the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS), and have taken their feedback into account in determining the threshold limits and the implementation date. We will also work closely with managing agents and community partners to educate residents on the correct use of the PWCS. To reap greater economies of scale, my Ministry is studying the feasibility of implementing PWCS at the district level, where different developments can be connected to the same network. An automated and enclosed network of district-level PWCS will bring us even closer to our vision of a manpower-efficient waste collection system in a liveable environment. Next, I turn to smoking. As Mr Ng highlighted, our long-term goal is to prohibit smoking in all public spaces except at designated areas. Last year, we extended smoking prohibition to areas around reservoirs and more than 400 parks. With this, more than 32,000 premises are now smoke-free in Singapore.”
“Studies have shown that households living in apartments with dual chute systems recycle up to three times more than those in apartments which do not have such facilities. We are now ready to widen the adoption of such systems. 4.00 pm The provision of recycling chutes will be extended to private residential developments. Buildings taller than four storeys in all new non-landed private residential developments will be required to install dual chutes for refuse and recyclables. This measure will apply to all new non-landed residential development applications submitted from 1 April 2018. Regarding Miss Cheng Li Hui's query on plans to reduce contamination rates of recyclables, education remains key. Through continued public education programmes in schools and at grassroots events, we encourage everyone to practise responsible recycling habits and ensure that only items which are suitable for recycling are deposited in the recycling bins and recycling chutes. As Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Miss Cheng Li Hui have observed, our current methods of manual waste collection in the older flats are manpower-intensive and unsustainable. Moving forward, we will transform our waste collection system into a more efficient, manpower-light one. The Pneumatic Waste Conveyance System (PWCS) is an automated system which transports waste by air suction through a network of pipes to a central collection station. This reduces our reliance on manpower to collect refuse. The whole system will be enclosed and residents will enjoy a more liveable environment, with a reduction in pest nuisance, odours and exposed waste. There is increasing adoption of PWCS in Singapore.”
“We are encouraging more on-site food waste initiatives in individual entities, such as hotels, shopping malls, educational institutions and hawker centres. Mr Liang asked for an update on the district-level food waste treatment pilot in Clementi. Since the end of last year, source-segregated food waste from nine sites, including schools, army camps and a food court, has been transported to a demonstration facility in the Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant. About three tonnes of food waste are collected daily, but we aim to increase this to 15 tonnes a day. If successful, this process will allow us to recover energy from food waste more efficiently. Good practices start from young and our schools have always been an enthusiastic partner in our recycling efforts. As part of these efforts, we will be launching food waste digesters in 10 schools in the second quarter of this year. Under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (SSB), we have set an overall recycling target of 70% by 2030. Over the last few years, our overall recycling rate has been around 60%. The non-domestic sector comprising industries and commercial premises have achieved a recycling rate of 77%. However, our domestic recycling rates have stagnated at around 20% in recent years. More needs to be done to put recycling at the heart of our culture. Referring to Assoc Prof Faishal Ibrahim nd Miss Cheng Li Hui's queries, we will be reshaping the infrastructure of our physical environment to make recycling more convenient for households. We hope this will bring us closer to our domestic recycling rate of 30% by 2030. Since January 2014, all new HDB Build-to-Order (BTO) flats have installed recycling chutes adjacent to centralised refuse chutes at every level.”
“We will take into account our local context, such as product coverage and the physical and financial responsibilities of key stakeholders, when developing the system. More details will be released later this year. Mr Louis Ng spoke about HCFCs. Singapore is a party to the Montreal Protocol and will phase out the use of HCFCs by 2030. We have put in place measures to help us achieve this, such as controls on the import of HCFCs for local use. Apart from regulatory control, we encourage the recycling of refrigerants recovered from refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. Local recycling facilities, such as Vemac Services Pte Ltd, recover refrigerants from decommissioned industrial and commercial systems. We will monitor developments in this area and assess the feasibility of implementing a management framework for HCFCs, taking into consideration the risk to human health, technical limitations and the potential compliance costs which businesses would have to bear. The second concern is packaging waste, which makes up around one-third of our domestic waste. Since the launch of our voluntary Singapore Packaging Agreement in 2007, we have achieved a cumulative reduction of more than 32,000 tonnes of packaging waste, but more can be done. We are exploring possible regulations for businesses, such as mandatory reporting of packaging placed on the local market and the submission of packaging waste reduction plans, over the next two to four years. We will study the issues and announce the details when ready. The third concern is food waste, which Mr Liang Eng Hwa and Miss Cheng Li Hui have raised. My Ministry has been pursuing several initiatives on this front.”
“Thank you. Mdm Chairman, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew once said, "After Independence, I searched for some dramatic way to distinguish ourselves from other Third World countries. I settled for a clean and green Singapore". Thus, Mr Lee, together with the Pioneer generation of Singaporeans, embarked on an unprecedented journey to transform Singapore from a slum into a Garden City. Today, as we work towards further enhancing Singapore's liveability, we, too, need to think and act boldly on matters relating to the environment, as Mr Lee did. All the more so, as we face huge challenges, such as manpower constraints, an ageing population and acute land scarcity. Assoc Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and Miss Cheng Li Hui raised relevant points on waste management. Let me first outline my Ministry's overall strategy and priorities in managing waste. There are three key waste streams of greatest concern to us. The first is electrical and electronic waste, or e-waste for short. As Assoc Prof Randolph Tan and Mr Louis Ng have highlighted, about 60,000 tonnes of e-waste are generated annually. Currently, consumers can participate in e-waste recycling programmes which industry stakeholders voluntarily provide. For example, StarHub provides e-waste recycling bins at almost 280 convenient locations, such as shopping malls and community centres, through its RENEW programme. The e-waste collected is sent to recyclers, such as Tes-Amm, where resources, such as copper, aluminium and gold are extracted for reuse. We are currently consulting industry stakeholders on an enhanced national e-waste management system, which would cover both the collection and disposal of e-waste. Some countries, such as Germany and South Korea, have implemented similar systems.”
“Mdm Chairman, may I have your permission to display some slides and a video on the LED screen?”
“If indeed these were to be used for smoking cessation, then, these products would have to comply with the rigorous requirements, undergo rigorous scientific findings to make sure that they are safe and effective, just like the nicotine-replacement therapy that is approved under the Medicine Act. If they claim so, then, they need to show that these products are, indeed, safe and effective. I do not think we want to do an experiment that will harm potential users.”
“I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. First, let me say that there is no documented evidence of any safe level of tobacco use. I think that when people talk about the value of lower risk tobacco products for harm reduction, this is really debatable. The fact is that such so-called lower risk tobacco products are still harmful because it exposes the users to cancer-causing chemicals. As I have noted, HSA did some preliminary tests. There is no significant difference in the nicotine content between the heated tobacco products and the traditional products. Our concern really is with the fact that allowing the use of such products could attract a much larger group of users, especially among the youths, and that could be the gateway to nicotine addiction and, eventually, smoking. We note the UK reports but despite reports from the UK, the experience of US is quite different. The US CDC has reported that e-cigarette use among high school students between 2011 and 2015 increased by more than 10 times, from 1.5% to 16%. The US Surgeon-General also reported that the use of e-cigarettes is closely associated with cigarette smoking among youths and young adults. What we are doing is to adopt and aim for a very high and precautionary level of public health protection against known as well as potential harms of emerging tobacco products, including heat-not-burn tobacco products. There is really no compelling reason or practical benefit in allowing such emerging products. For heat-not-burn tobacco products, there has been no claim by anyone that these can be used for smoking cessation.”
“Existing evidence suggests that heat-not-burn tobacco products are not significantly different from traditional cigarettes in terms of risk to both smokers and non-smokers. HSA has also done preliminary tests on such products and found that the nicotine content is comparable to traditional cigarettes. Evidence from other countries suggests that heat-not-burn tobacco products are not significantly different from traditional cigarettes in terms of emissions. While there have been claims that such tobacco products are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, these claims are made by the tobacco industry and, to date, there is very little independent evidence supporting such claims.”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary question. As I have noted, we have many local and international studies that seek to establish the impact of air pollution on health as well as healthcare costs. Depending on the methodologies and the assumptions used, the figures may vary. What we have done to inform policy review and formulation is to gather these various studies and have a holistic picture of the economic costs to health and healthcare and then determine our policies. As I have said, we have set air quality targets based on WHO Air Quality Guidelines in our Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (SSB) 2015. WHO has established a set of air quality guidelines where health risk is largely reduced because every reduction obviously matters. WHO also acknowledges that when we set guidelines, we have to take into account local constraints, such as mitigation costs, for instance, accessibility, affordability and availability of the technologies. Hence, when we regularly review our policies as well as develop new policies in order to reduce air pollution and improve air quality, we take these into account as part of the cost-benefit analysis. But as I said, the figures can vary significantly and we have to look at it holistically.”
“With regard to the first question about the number of environment officers enforcing, I do not have the exact number. So, I will follow up with the Member. Whether we will increase the number of enforcement officers, I think we have, over the years, increased the number of enforcement officers. But obviously, there is a limit as to the number that we can increase. We have also engaged the help of our CVs, not just those who are signed up as CVs, but also volunteers under our "Keep Singapore Clean" programme and so on, to help encourage as well as build up the community's sense of ownership for the environment and to do the right thing. With regard to how we are going to encourage more volunteers, we have, over the years, been doing this through various campaigns and programmes. For instance, NEA actively engages the premises owners, such as the shopping malls, various grassroots community organisations, to encourage them to get their members, including non-government organisations, to get their members to sign up to be our CVs.”
“We work with the operators of the Senior Care Centres, the VWOs and so on, to give health talks and encourage these patients to go for health screening. So, as I have said, we will bear in mind that even as we review and finetune our health promotion and educational programmes, it will be to meet the needs of the population, including people with disabilities and special needs.”
“Let me say that for the SFL programme, for instance, it is a person-centric letter that is sent out to all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents who are eligible for this programme at various ages and depending on the gender. So, one letter is sent out to females in that year when they are 25 years of age for cervical cancer screening. At age 40, all eligible Singaporeans will be sent a person-centric customised letter for them to go for screening for chronic diseases. It will include people with disabilities or special needs. At age 50, there is another letter for chronic disease as well as for certain cancer screening, such as mammogram, colorectal cancer and so on. Indeed, these are very targeted. They will also be sent to the people with disabilities and special needs. In many instances, they will probably be able to respond to the letters. In fact, we give them a reminder at the ages of 26, 41 and 51. As I have said, people with disabilities and special needs are a diverse group, with a wide range of disabilities and functional capabilities. So, for some, the caregivers may be able to respond and bring them for health screening. In addition to that, as I have said, our programmes and campaigns are inclusive. We adopt an inclusive approach. So, for programmes and campaigns, say, "War on Diabetes" where we talk about healthy lifestyle, healthy diet, healthy eating, they are applicable to everybody, including those with disabilities. We also have some special programmes, for instance, at the Senior Activity Centres or the Senior Care Centres, physical activities for people who are not mobile, on wheelchairs. There are special exercise programmes for them.”
“In addition, health promotion and education programmes that aim to foster healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and physical activities, target all Singaporeans. We recognise that persons with disabilities and special needs are a diverse group, with a wide range of disabilities and functional capabilities, and possibly a variety of underlying medical conditions. Some may also require customised preventive health advice, health screening and care, which are best done by their family physicians. Nevertheless, we will continue to review and finetune our health education and promotion initiatives to meet the needs of our population, including those with disabilities or special needs.”
“The Ministry takes an inclusive approach in the implementation of health promotion and disease prevention programmes and campaigns for the population. Such programmes also cater to persons with disabilities and special needs. The Health Promotion Board's (HPB's) School Health Services (SHS) and School Dental Services (SDS) provide health and dental screening, and immunisation services to students with special needs in Special Education (SPED) schools, in addition to those in mainstream schools. The HPB works closely with the doctors, dentists, parents and staff of the special schools to ensure that these services are delivered in a manner that is appropriate for the students. Similarly, Response, Early intervention and Assessment in Community mental Health (REACH) teams cover both mainstream schools and special needs schools. REACH teams work with special needs schools to help students with psychological, emotional and behavioural problems. They also provide training and support to allied health staff of special needs schools to strengthen their ability to identify, manage and, if necessary, refer at-risk children to the team for intervention. HPB's Screen for Life (SFL) programme, which offers age-appropriate subsidised health screening tests for chronic diseases and selected cancers are open to all Singaporeans, including persons with disabilities and special needs, at participating Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) general practitioner (GP) clinics. Health screening is also available in locations such as polyclinics and community centres, which are easily accessible for people with disabilities and their caregivers.”
“I thank the Member for his question. Indeed, we do conduct study visits, as well as share information with healthcare institutions in different countries, including the Western developed countries, as well as Japan and Hong Kong. As I am speaking on this, there is a committee that is looking at reviewing the curriculum and training of nurses, to expand their role and scope. It will also be looking at expanding the role and scope, and upskilling of healthcare support staff. 1.30 pm”
“Allow me to explain first, that while a diabetic patient is trained, he can be trained to give himself a specific type of insulin injection for self-care, or the caregiver could be trained to do so. Healthcare staff, particularly those in healthcare institutions, are required to work with a broad range of different insulin on different patients, and this increases the need for safe care. Nursing aides are currently not allowed to administer insulin and other subcutaneous injections to nursing home residents. Such injections are to be done by nurses, RNs and ENs, with training. This is in view that insulin is classed under the group of high-alert medications, which are medications that are most likely to cause significant harm to the patient, even when used as intended. Although any medication used improperly can cause harm, high-alert medications cause harm more commonly, and the harm they produce is likely to be more serious and may lead to patients suffering and incurring additional costs associated with care of these patients. For instance, insulin injections, if wrongly administered, may cause the patient to go into a coma, and further complications can arise. Nonetheless, as I have noted earlier in my reply, we are looking at the expanding role and scope of patient care by upskilling our ENs and support care staff. So, MOH will work with the nursing homes to review whether nursing aides and other support care staff may be allowed, with appropriate training, to administer subcutaneous injections, while maintaining safe care.”
“Enrolled Nurses (ENs) and support care staff, such as healthcare assistants and nursing aides, are important healthcare staff in the delivery of care. They assist Registered Nurses (RNs) in the provision of nursing care. ENs are able to carry out tasks, such as inserting stomach feeding tubes and blood glucose monitoring. As our population ages, healthcare needs will increase and become more complex. We agree with the Member that we should continue to upskill ENs and support care staff to perform a wider scope of patient care. ENs and support care staff can undergo in-house training provided by our public healthcare institutions. They can also attend courses offered by training providers, such as the SingHealth Alice Lee Institute of Advanced Nursing Studies and the Agency for Integrated Care's (AIC's) Learning Institute. ENs can also upskill to be RNs through the Diploma in Nursing course offered by Nanyang Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. As part of the recommendations by the National Nursing Taskforce in 2014, more ENs can progress to become RNs by undertaking the Certificate in Bridging Studies for ENs course and, subsequently, the Diploma in Nursing course, if they have at least three years of post-enrolment work experience and an employer's testimonial. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has also increased funding for our public healthcare institutions to support the upgrading of ENs to RNs. With these changes, the number of ENs enrolling in the Diploma in Nursing course increased by 7% from 237 in 2014, to 253 in 2016. We will continue to study ways to enhance the roles, professional growth and career pathways for our ENs and support care staff, so that we can continue to deliver good quality care for Singaporeans.”
“However, as different schemes may have different eligibility criteria to ensure that we target the right group of beneficiaries, clients may, in some instances, still need to undergo additional assessments for schemes with different or additional criteria. However, we are mindful of this and we will try to minimise this as much as possible. As Minister Tan Chuan-Jin had said, MOH and the Ministry of Social and Family Development work very closely together. So, AIC and SG Enable, if need to, we will also share information on the medical and mobility assessments.”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. Firstly, with regard to elderly with mobility difficulties who may need referrals to subsidised care, they can contact AIC, or their caregiver can contact AIC, to arrange for home medical visits by MOH-subvented providers, where a doctor can visit them at the convenience of their home to assess their needs and, if necessary, provide them with the subsidised referral to see a specialist. Such services are provided by various community organisations like Home Nursing Foundation, and eligible seniors can receive subsidies for this service. In fact, for these frail seniors, they can contact AIC for home medical and home nursing services, and doctors and nurses can provide care for them within the convenience of their homes. Seniors with mobility difficulties can also contact AIC to request for Medical Escort and Transport (MET) services, where the provider can escort and transport the senior for medical appointments, including at the polyclinics. With regard to the second question about sharing of the results of the mobility and medical assessments, we note the requirement and the need to minimise such assessments as much as possible to reduce inconvenience, particularly for the frail elderly. The medical and mobility assessments are shared and applied for eligibility assessment for similar schemes, as far as possible. For instance, AIC will allow the use of ElderShield assessments for similar schemes run by AIC, such as the Foreign Domestic Worker Grant and the Pioneer Generation Disability Assistance Scheme.”