By Ramesh Subbaraman
Singapore’s healthcare sector will undergo a major transformation in the next 10 to 15 years and there is much work in store for the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU) to meet these challenges, said NTUC Secretary-General (SG) Chan Chun Sing.
Speaking at HSEU’s Third Quadrennial Delegates Conference on 4 September 2015, SG Chan said the union has made much progress in the past few years and pointed to three areas which would need attention.
Tackling Expansion
SG Chan noted that Singapore will be expanding the network of community hospitals and home care services, and the number of healthcare workers in Singapore would increase tremendously.
“When we imagine the membership of HSEU, we may go beyond just the hospitals and polyclinics, and in time to come include the private hospitals also. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to provide services to take care of healthcare workers and also at the same time value add to their life,” explained SG Chan.
Another challenge is to improve productivity and there will be the sectoral manpower plan to achieve this.
The rapid expansion of the healthcare sector would also mean foreign healthcare workers coming in to complement the local workforce.
SG Chan said HSEU will have to find ways to reach out to them and bring them on-board to grow as one united healthcare sector.
Union Achievements
Also speaking at the Conference was HSEU’s President K Thanaletchimi who reported that the union’s membership has grown 72 per cent to 37,980 as at end June 2015.
Outlining the union’s work, she said some 5,000 low-wage healthcare staff have seen their monthly salaries go up by 15 per cent.
Source: NTUC This Week
