SINGAPORE, Feb 15 – Singapore will not be able to produce enough nurses for its own needs for years to come, despite plans to increase the number of locally trained nurses from 1,700 a year at present to 2,700 a year, China’s
Xinhua news agency said quoting local daily Straits Times’ report on Friday.
Figures for the past decade from the Singapore Nursing Board suggest that the country’s health system will have to recruit between 1,000 and 2,000 foreign nurses each year to meet the rising demand for health care that comes with a growing and rapidly ageing population.
Singapore is planning to steadily expand its medical services, which is expected to lead to a competition for local nurses among the hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. A new community hospital in the district of Yishun will be opened later this year, followed by the opening of the 700-bed Ng Teng Fong Hospital and a new building with 250 beds at Changi General Hospital next year. Two more community hospitals and several nursing homes will be opening within the next few years, too.
Several hospitals said they see themselves recruiting substantial numbers of foreigners — as they have been doing in the past few years, the Straits Times said.
Singapore now has a total of 34,200 trained nurses. The latest annual report of the Singapore Nursing Board shows that the bulk of foreign nurses are from the Philippines, with close to 4,000 of them working here. Generally,
qualified nurses have no problems getting the approval to work in Singapore. All hospitals, both public and private, are also working hard to retain their older and more experienced nurses. At the end of 2011, Singapore had 2,280 nurses who were 60 years old or older.
BERNAMA
