SINGAPORE — The number of doctors and nurses in the public healthcare sector increased by about 50 and 70 per cent respectively over the last five years, but the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it will continue to ramp up efforts to recruit more healthcare professionals and improve productivity to meet the needs of Singapore’s growing and ageing population.

There are some 6,200 doctors and 21,000 nurses in the public sector, which means that the doctor-to-population ratio improved to 1:520 from 1:620 between 2007 and 2012, while the nurse-to-population ratio rose to 1:154 from 1:205 during the same period.

Minister of State (Health) Dr Amy Khor revealed these figures in Parliament yesterday as she laid out the ministry’s efforts and measures to address staff shortages and retain healthcare professionals in the public sector.

Last year, the Government enhanced the salaries of healthcare professionals to be more “competitive against the market”. It will also be expanding intakes to meet the projected demand for 20,000 more healthcare professionals by 2020.

“With the expansion, the nurse and doctor-to-patient ratio are likely to remain broadly comparable internationally with economies with similar economic development and ageing demographic,” said Dr Khor.

She also said that should there be a surge in the need for healthcare in the event of a pandemic, the healthcare institutions have processes in place to handle the situation. Elective surgeries will be temporarily cut back, and hospitals can outsource services where possible and recall temporary staff.

“Manpower could also be deployed across various healthcare systems depending on where the loading and the need is,” added Dr Khor.

Mr Lam Pin Min, Member of Parliament for Sengkang West and chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, asked Dr Khor if the ministry could look into encouraging more doctors to take up specialty training in the areas of rehabilitation and geriatric medicine, which were more “relevant” to the ageing population.

In response, Dr Khor said the ministry will look at the different specialties required and encourage doctors to specialise in areas that will be “increasingly in demand”, such as geriatric care. Ashley Chia