Singapore to roll out new healthcare system for foreign workers

Singapore is set to roll out a new medical system for migrant or foreign workers to provide primary healthcare and reduce the risks of future disease outbreaks through active surveillance, a media report said on Wednesday.

The system, to be rolled out from November 2021, will be in six geographical sectors, with each sector housing at least 40,000 migrant workers both in and out of dormitories, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

Each of the six sectors will be anchored by a medical centre for migrant workers, complemented by onsite medical centres in three large dormitories, at least two mobile clinical teams, as well as round-the-clock telemedicine consultations and ambulance and special transport services.


Tender documents were published by the Ministry of Manpower on June 28 for the new system.

One of the sectors, covering areas in the west like Bukit Batok and Jurong industrial areas, will have its healthcare centre operated by a non-governmental organisation. The sector has about 54,800 workers, of whom more than 82 per cent live in dorms.

Tender documents said that healthcare should be provided in a way that "minimises any cultural and language barriers to access healthcare services". Steps to ensure this may include having doctors onsite from workers' home countries and having multilingual translation capabilities.

Providers are also to deliver healthcare in a manner that keeps migrant workers' out-of-pocket expenses low, according to the news report.

Under the new system, each of the six medical centres for migrant workers will be the first-line outpatient facility for migrant workers.

The six centres will also be used for public health surveillance and equipped with testing capabilities and isolation facilities to prevent the spread of diseases like Covid-19. They will be staffed by at least one doctor, two nurses, two administrative support staff and a radiographer.

The new healthcare system for migrant workers follows the roll out of regional medical centres for workers since August 28 last year. There are currently 13, opened after all dormitories were cleared of Covid-19 on August 19 last year.

As of Tuesday, about 87 per cent of Singapore's 62,563 Covid-19 patients were dorm residents (foreign workers), although no new cases have been detected in dorms in the past two weeks.