Junior Doctors' Service During Pandemic

NOTICE PAPER NO. 2851

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 6 AUGUST 2024

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Tan Wu Meng

MP for Jurong GRC

Question No. 6163

To ask the Minister for Health (a) how many junior doctors of House Officer or Medical Officer grade served at the public healthcare institutions (PHIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) of these, how many have been rotated between different PHIs; (c) of those who later left the PHIs amidst the pandemic to serve full-time national service commitments, how many have been then deployed as SAF Medical Officers; and (d) how many of such doctors did not receive the COVID-19 Resilience Medal and what are the reasons.

Answer

1 Many Junior Doctors, including House Officers, Medical Officers and Residents are employed by the Ministry of Health Holdings (MOHH) and rotated through our public healthcare institutions (PHI), including during COVID-19 pandemic.

2 The bulk of Junior Doctors who served during the pandemic have been awarded the COVID-19 Resilience Medal (CRM). However, many were also not nominated by their employing organizations because they were not in a single place of practice throughout the pandemic.

3 We recognise that many of these Junior Doctors who were on rotation as part of their training had also contributed significantly to our pandemic response, and the Ministry of Health has worked with MOHH to review and nominate additional healthcare workers for the CRM. Other than Juniors Doctors on rotation, Medical Officers who had served in our PHIs but subsequently re-enlisted for National Service during the pandemic period have also been nominated. The updated list of awardees will be published in the latter half of 2024.