Healthcare Workers Now Won’t Need to Take Unpaid Leave if They Run Out of Paid Sick Leave

2022-02-23 , 9:56 am

In the COVID-19 pandemic, awards of honours should be distributed to the healthcare workers for their tireless and thankless task for having to be on the frontlines of pandemic and taking care of the patients.

Undeniably, they put themselves at the risk of being infected with every work shift they take, regardless of whether they are fully vaccinated and boosted or not.

Healthcare Workers’ Sick Leaves Can Be Recorded as Hospitalisation Leaves

On Monday (21 Feb), Health Minister Ong Ye Kung fully acknowledged the risks and stress that the healthcare workers in clinics and polyclinics are placed under as he drafted a note in response to the Healthcare Service Union’s request.

Healthcare workers will be allowed to record their sick leaves as hospitalisation leaves in the future, which means they won’t have to take unpaid leaves when their 14-day sick leaves run out.

Furthermore, in order to reduce their workloads, patients with milder symptoms will be encouraged to recover at home, and that employees will not be required to show a medical certificate as proof of absence due to their COVID-19 infections.

“I want to let you know that the Ministry of Health and your management will continue to do our best, and pull through this difficult period, just as we ensured you had priority to vaccine and booster shots, spread out cases by leveraging COVID-19 treatment facilities and general practitioners, and implemented the difficult no-visitors policy,” Mr Ong wrote.

The Health Minister promises that they will continue to do whatever they can.

Addressing Manpower Shortages

In his note, Mr Ong also mentioned the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) with Philippines and India will be launching soon on 4 March.

This is in consideration of the fact that a portion of Singapore’s healthcare workers are foreign workers, who have families abroad.

With the VTL, it will no longer be necessary for them to quarantine themselves for 7 to 14 days upon returning to Singapore

Additionally, the healthcare volunteer corps and Singapore Armed Forces will be mobilised to help support hospitals with the heaviest patient loads by providing the existing staff with trained medics.

This is especially important as the number of COVID-19 cases crossed the 26,000 mark this Tuesday (22 Feb).

Health Minister Ong reiterates that patients should not rush to the Emergency Department if it’s not an emergency, as they need to prioritise the resources for the patients who genuinely and truly need the additional medical assistance.

For the same reason, Mr Ong states the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Multi-Ministry Task Force will continue to explain to the public that Omicron is milder than Delta because it is necessary for the public to know that Omicron poses less of a health risk.

The Streamlining of Safety Management Measures

In the most recent Multi-Ministry Task Force Press Conference on 16 Feb, the Ministries announced that the safety measures have been relaxed to a certain extent.

For instance, starting from 25 Feb, social distancing will no longer be required when there are masks-on, and workplace social gatherings can resume with a cap of 5 people, like dine-in restrictions.

Starting from 4 March, size limits for events like religious services and wedding receptions will be lifted, and sports events can be hosted with up to 30 fully vaccinated people at a time, though only at supervised and approved facilities.

With regards to the streamlining of safety measures in spite of the growing infection rates, Mr Ong clarifies that the “micro rules” don’t cause a huge impact.

The “micro rules” that were mostly done away were either “complex” or “unwieldy”, to the extent where people could often forget that they even exist in the first place. Hence, there’s no need to reinforce them.

The public should be more focused on the measures that can still reduce or maintain the transmission wave to prevent further exacerbation of the caseloads, like the restricted group sizes, mask-wearing, and vaccination-differentiated measures.

Parting Words

“The pandemic has been going on for over two years now. Like you, we want to see the pandemic pass.

“With each day our society becomes stronger and we move closer to normalcy. So hang in there for a while more. It is no longer light at the end of the tunnel, but barring unforeseen circumstances, it is something within our grasp.”

Lastly, Health Minister Ong offers his gratitude towards the healthcare workers and their family again.