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Madam Deputy Speaker, as a union leader and representative of fellow workers, I rise in support of this motion to drive towards Healthier Singapore. This motion clearly emphasises the need for and importance of living healthily to start at a young age. This will then pave the way for healthy daily living and mobility, as we grow old to enjoy the fruits of our hard work during our early age. Furthermore, unions also want to ensure that our fellow workers can continue working beyond the retirement age, knowing that one of the criteria is about the medical condition of the worker.
Unions have played a role in supporting workers on their health
My speech today will cover the role of unions in strongly focusing on preventive care and building strong partnerships with community partners to support our fellow workers who are taking care of their own health and wellness.
Madam, I am not sure how many in this House or members of public know the complete suite of benefits our unions provide in supporting our fellow workers. While many may be aware of the workplace grievances handled and social benefits provided by our NTUC social enterprises and affiliated merchants, unions do so much more than that! Of the many cases that unions handle, about only 10 per cent workplace grievances. Hence, we need to provide unique value-added services to the remaining 90 per cent of our members. One of which is providing support and subsidy to our members in terms of health and wellness. Unions continuously innovate to serve our members better, because for the Unions, Members First Workers Always.
Allow me to enlighten the House on the three different ways that our unions and our leaders have supported our members and workers in the preventive healthcare journey. This role is not new to unions. Minimally, we encourage our
management partners to provide regular complimentary health screening for our members and workers. Regular health screening is critical to identify any symptoms of sickness that each worker has and could then be provided with the necessary early intervention measures before the sickness gets worsened.
While providing these complimentary health screenings looks simple, mobilising and encouraging the workers to take part is never an easy task. There were at times when some management partners wanted to discontinue this due to the low take-up rates, but our union leaders rejected strongly and worked with management partners to maximise outreach efforts to increase and optimise participation.
Allow me to share some examples of two unions that have gone beyond what their management partners do for their workers. First is the Union of Security Employees, in short, USE, which has set up a healthcare advisory booth provided by Health Promotion Board at their customer service centre for any members to walk in and request for assistance. These members take the opportunity to know and understand health advisories while waiting for their turn to be called.
Another example is one of mine, the Union of Power and Gas Employees, in short, UPAGE. We started this movement many years ago with one of our management partners. Initially, our members were offered $50 if they had chosen not to take any medical leave for the year. We have replaced that with an annual health screening worth close to $150. We are happy to share that most of our represented companies today provide basic complimentary health screening for our workers, either at their workplace or at a designated healthcare or medical centre, to provide that flexibility for the workers. In addition to this, UPAGE started to provide additional subsidy since 2018 to encourage our members to go for additional testing during the health screening.
This subsidy ranges from $50 to $100 per member depending on the cost of the additional tests that our members would like to take. We are pleased to share that we have supported more than 2,200 members with a total subsidy of more than $150,000 as of today and we intend to reach out to more members. We are only able to do this because of our close partners’ strong support and generosity for workers in the power sector. Please note that this subsidy applies to UPAGE members only, not for all. With so many support measures and subsidy provisions, I always believe that the union membership fee would be beneficial to all, if not many.
Call for the Ministry to work with the Labour Movement more
Hence, I would call on the Ministry to acknowledge and work together with the Labour Movement and our affiliated unions, as one of your community partners, to reach out, engage and encourage our fellow workers to strive for a healthy lifestyle. This will then align with Government’s vision for Healthier Singapore.
At this juncture, I would like to put forth four requests to the Ministry:
First, can the Ministry provide a guide on the kind of medical checks that everyone should prioritise for their own well-being at different age groups?
Next, can the Ministry provide more designated centres for our fellow Singaporeans to do their health screening?
Can the Ministry also allow an individual to use their Medisave for additional medical checks that they want to do for their own well-being?
Finally, can the Ministry provide an enhanced infographic that not only states the risk of poor health but one that instils the importance of starting a healthy lifestyle at a very young age?
(Madam, I will speak in Malay.)
Usul yang mengajak kita menuju ke arah masyarakat yang menjalani kehidupan lebih sihat adalah sesuatu yang wajar. Ini demi kehidupan yang lebih baik berbanding keadaan di mana kita yang terpaksa mengalami kesakitan, tidak kira bagi golongan muda mahupun yang berusia senja.
Salah satu cabaran masyarakat kita adalah masalah penyakit kencing manis dan berat badan yang berlebihan, macam saya jugaklah, yang boleh membawa kepada pelbagai macam penyakit yang lain. Namun, ini harus diubah dari awal. Tabiat makanan yang selalu mahukan minuman yang manis dan makanan yang berlemak haruslah kita tukar dengan perlahan-lahan agar kita memilih minuman yang kurang manis dan makanan yang sihat dan dikurangkan jumlahnya.
Saya sendiri menyaksikan ahli keluarga, sanak saudara dan sahabat handai yang terpaksa menanggung sakit pada usia semuda awal tiga-puluhan, menghidapi pelbagai panyakit seperti diabetes, darah tinggi dan sebagainya. Memang ada pepatah Arab yang menyatakan bahawa setiap penyakit ada ubatnya kecuali maut, namun itu tidak bererti kita harus membiarkan diri kita sehingga ditimpa penyakit, kemudian baru nak berubat.
Memang amat mencabar untuk mengubah cara pemakanan kita yang kurang sihat kepada sesuatu yang sihat. Namun kita harus akur bahawa perubahan ini adalah untuk kebaikan kita sendiri. Kita juga tidak mahu menyusahkan anak-anak kita apabila kita di usia senja kelak di mana mereka harus menjaga ibu bapa yang sakit dan susah untuk mengendalikan kehidupan sendiri. Biarlah usia senja kita dipenuhi dengan aktiviti sihat seperti bermain-main dengan cucu dan menjaga mereka, kita dapat berjalan ke masjid dan sebagainya. Ini semua hanya dapat kita raih dengan memastikan kehidupan sihat dari usia muda. Memang ajal tidak mengira usia, akan tetapi badan dan minda yang sihat yang cergas itu lebih berfaedah buat kita. Janganlah kita serahkan kepada takdir keadaan usia senja kita, tetapi sebaliknya, kita pastikan diri kita sentiasa kekal sihat demi kebaikan kita dan orang-orang tersayang.
Conclusion
Madam, many of us would acknowledge that good health is the real wealth. It is one that we can enjoy benefits of our hard work instead of sacrificing our savings and wealth to pay for our medical costs.
Let us work together to eat healthier food and adopt a healthy lifestyle so that we can all achieve our mission towards a Healthier Singapore.
In conclusion, I support this motion.
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