Health Minister Ong Ye Kung calls on health workers to ‘pull through this difficult period’

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has told healthcare workers in Singapore that his ministry and the workers’ management staff members will continue to do their best to support them “to pull through this difficult period”.

In his message on Monday (Feb 21), Mr Ong said that the Government will “do whatever we can” to support the workers just as it has ensured that the healthcare workers “have priority to vaccines and boosters, spread out cases by leveraging Covid-19 treatment facilities and general practitioners, and implemented the difficult no-visitors policy”.

Mr Ong also said that the authorities are mobilising the healthcare volunteer corps and sought help from the Singapore Armed Forces to help address manpower shortages.

He noted that the healthcare workers’ workload has been heavy, but stressed that MOH and the multi-ministerial task force handling the pandemic here will need to continue to explain to the public that the Omicron coronavirus strain is less severe than the Delta one.

“From the public’s point of view, they need to know that Omicron poses less of a risk. That way, they can respond to the infection wave calmly, recovering from home when their symptoms are mild, instead of rushing to the hospitals.”