Nursing to get a shot in the arm

Nursing to get a shot in the arm

The nursing industry here is about to get a major shot in the arm after a national task force was set up to look into all areas of the profession.

The well-being of nurses, new career structures and education paths for them, along with the job's public image, will all be examined.

Late last year, 56 nurses, doctors, ministry officers and other health-care leaders were brought together to make their recommendations, which are slated to be ready by the year's end.

This was revealed yesterday at the Ministry of Health's (MOH) Nurses Merit Awards at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Cavenagh Road.

The move to help retain staff and draw more people into nursing comes amid a manpower crunch in the health-care sector.

Nurses, of whom there are around 34,500 here, are in high demand, with more medical facilities being built for Singapore's growing and rapidly ageing population. The plan is to grow the local pool of nurses by 2,700 annually.

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