S’pore Owes Healthcare Workers Debt Of Gratitude: Minister Ong Ye Kung
It goes without saying that healthcare workers have been doing the most important job in Singapore amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
For more than 20 months they’ve been toiling hard, and it’s just been getting worse as our case numbers have gone into the thousands recently.
Thus, we think every Singaporean will agree that they deserve more for their efforts than clapping or thoughts and prayers.
The Government will hence award public healthcare staff $4,000 each for their contributions in the fight against Covid-19.
Singapore owes debt of gratitude to healthcare workers
The Covid-19 Healthcare Award was announced via a Facebook post by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Friday (5 Nov).
Addressing healthcare workers directly, he said they do their best to care for their patients and save lives, being the “1st line of care” and “last line of defence”.
As such, Singapore owes a debt of gratitude to them.
About 100,000 staff will get the cash
About 100,000 staff will get the award – that also means about $400 million will be given out.
A press release by the Ministry of Health (MOH) added the staff must be working for publicly funded healthcare organisations involved in the delivery of healthcare services in the fight against Covid-19.
This includes staff from public healthcare clusters – National Healthcare Group, National University Health System, and SingHealth – who will get their award in Dec.
Those working for Community Care Organisations (CCOs) – like nursing homes – will get it in the 1st quarter of 2022.
Minister Ong said the cash may not fully reflect their efforts, but it’s an “appropriate thing” for the Ministry of Health (MOH) to do.
Healthcare system under significant strain
Healthcare workers deserve the award as the system has been under significant strain while fighting Covid-19, MOH acknowledged.
This is especially in the past few months due to the surge in infections, which has resulted in strong demand for healthcare services and “very high workload” in hospitals.
In Parliament earlier this week, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary reiterated this point, saying more healthcare workers are quitting as fatigue sets in.
S’pore May Have 2,000 Covid-19 Deaths Yearly, More Healthcare Workers Showing Fatigue & Resigning
Worse may still be to come as various sectors begin to resume full operations and with society progressively restarting more activities like the Standard Chartered Marathon.
This means the healthcare sector will continue to face intense pressure, MOH added.
PHPCs to get $10,000 each
Besides healthcare workers, Public Health Preparedness Clinic (PHPC) are also important in the fight against Covid-19 as they’re often the 1st port of call for patients.
MOH also recognises their contributions, so they will be granted $10,000 each, to be shared among their staff.
The PHPCs will get their grants in the 1st quarter of 2022.
Cash reward is a good start
While it’s probably impossible to alleviate the stress of working in a Covid-19 ward, money is certainly a good start.
Many have been calling for more concrete action to reward healthcare workers, like higher pay, and hopefully the cash will be a precursor to that.
For ordinary Singaporeans who don’t have much cash to give out, we can do our part by following safe distancing measures and maintaining good personal hygiene.
This will reduce our chances of getting the virus and putting more strain on the healthcare system.
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Featured image adapted from Alexandra Hospital on Facebook.
