Singaporean Co-workers Acting as Guarantors for Foreign Nurses
Ministry of HealthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns whether Singaporean colleagues can act as guarantors for foreign nurses' sponsorships and the frequency of bond defaults or liquidated damage payments. Ms K Thanaletchimi sought statistics on foreign nurse sponsorships and the Ministry’s measures to support sponsored students during their studies. Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong replied that Singaporean colleagues are permitted as guarantors and reported that only four of 448 non-Singaporean sponsored nurses failed their courses over five years. He noted that no guarantor has had to pay liquidated damages during this period and that institutions use academic monitoring and counseling to prevent failures. Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong reaffirmed that foreign sponsorships will continue alongside local recruitment to meet the healthcare needs of an ageing population.
Transcript
66 Ms K Thanaletchimi asked the Minister for Health (a) whether Singaporean colleagues of foreign nurses are allowed to be guarantors for them instead of confining this to only their family members before the healthcare institutions grant these foreign nurses sponsorship for further studies; (b) how many cases have there been where the sponsored nurses are unable to complete their studies or become uncontactable after their studies without fulfilling their bond; (c) how much liquidated damages have been paid by guarantors and how many of the affected guarantors are Singaporeans; (d) what level of responsibility should employers bear and what measures are in place to prevent the number of defaults or failures in their course of study; and (e) whether the Ministry will continue its effort and resources to sponsor foreigners to study nursing in Singapore and to what extent.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: A Singaporean colleague of a foreign nurse is allowed to be a guarantor for a foreign nurse pursuing further studies under a sponsorship in the public healthcare sector.
Such sponsorships are awarded based on the candidates’ merit, including their performance, potential and commitment to serve in our public healthcare sector. Over the past five years, our public healthcare institutions awarded over 3,600 nursing sponsorships. Four hundred and forty-eight of these sponsorships were awarded to non-Singaporean nurses. Of these, four nurses were unable to complete their studies. Two of them paid liquidated damages and another compensated by serving a bond. Our public healthcare institution is following up on the remaining nurse. Over the past five years, no guarantor was required to pay liquidated damages.
Our public healthcare institutions closely monitor the academic performance of all sponsorship recipients. Those who have difficulties meeting the minimum course grades will be given closer supervision. Those who have non-academic issues affecting their training will be provided support and counselling.
With an ageing population, we will need more nurses to support our growing healthcare needs. Our priority is to continue growing the number of local nurses, and we have stepped up efforts to attract more locals to join nursing. Over the last five years, the total number of local nurses has grown by about 2,700 to about 26,000 in 2015. However, we will still need foreign nurses to supplement our local manpower. Foreign students who are sponsored to undergo nurse training are required to serve a bond in our public healthcare sector upon graduation. We will continue to offer such sponsorships in order to meet our national needs.