Singapore has announced bonus payments of up to 69,000 euros to nurses to encourage them to stay in the city-state's public health system, which is facing staff shortages and an aging population.
About 29,000 nurses will be eligible, including foreigners who have been working in the country for four years, Ong Ye Kung, the Southeast Asian country's health minister, said on Tuesday.
“We want to help our nurses do good work,” he said.
Covid-19 has exacerbated the nursing shortage in Singapore as many foreign nurses have left the country during the pandemic. Most foreign nurses based in Singapore come from neighboring countries including Malaysia, the Philippines and Myanmar.
Under the retention scheme, carers can receive up to 100,000 Singapore dollars (69,000 euros) in payments spread over 20 years or until retirement age. Last year, authorities offered a bonus of 15,000 Singapore dollars (around 10,000 euros) to new nursing graduates who joined public hospitals or clinics.
According to the authorities, the number of admissions to nursing courses increased by around 30% between 2013 and 2023.
“As the birth rate is falling, the number of babies is falling and the number of students is falling, keeping these numbers stable is a very encouraging result,” the minister said.
Like many other Asian countries, Singapore is struggling with an aging population. The Ministry of Health estimates that by 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be 65 or older, while around 83,000 older people will live alone.