About 75 per cent of the 36,995 registered nurses are Singaporeans or permanent residents. PHOTO: ST FILE
CAROLYNE Marak’s family has faced financial difficulties since the death of her father four years ago. But a nursing job in Singapore may help change things for the family of four.
The 29-year-old, who has six years of nursing experience, passed the Singapore Nursing Board (SNB) licence exam in April.
She has a job offer from a nursing home and is waiting for registration from the board. She will then apply for a work permit, according to her recruitment agency, Ajith Enterprises.
Singapore was her top choice when she attended a Meghalaya state government job fair for nurses in 2023, at which international recruiters from other countries such as Japan and Britain were also present.
“I chose Singapore because I heard the place is safe and the weather is good.
“There is also no need to learn another language,” said Marak, who has been offered seven times the salary she currently earns at a private hospital in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, a state in north-eastern India.
“My family is very excited. Let’s see how much I can save,” she added.
She was among 13 nurses recruited for Singapore at the job fair, where Singapore was a top preferred destination for those seeking work abroad, said Ramkumar S, executive director of Meghalaya State Skill Development Society.
“The response was overwhelming. We had about 1,500 nurses who turned up, and many of them actually came with very little prior information. But they wanted to go to Australia and Singapore, because they speak English there,” he said.
Twenty-seven nurses also got job offers from Japan, which has been wooing Indian nurses.
Nurses such as Marak are in demand these days as international recruiters, including from Singapore, look to India to fill their vacancies, even as India suffers from a shortage of nurses.
The better English-language skills of candidates from Meghalaya and other north-eastern states are also seen as a plus by recruiters.
In neighbouring Assam, which has growing links with Singapore, as many as 53 nurses have had their professional track records verified for SNB by the Assam Nurses’ Midwives’ & Health Visitors’ Council since July 2021, clearing them for recruitment in Singapore.
The demand for more nurses in Singapore is due to a high rate of attrition in recent years amid a growing global demand for such professionals.
Many foreign nurses left to return home once borders were reopened as the Covid-19 pandemic waned.
According to SNB, there were 43,772 nurses and registered midwives in Singapore in 2022.
About 75% of the 36,995 registered nurses are Singaporeans or permanent residents.
Among foreign nurses, most were from the Philippines (13%), followed by Malaysia (5.7%), Myanmar (2.4%), India (1.3%), China (1.27%) and elsewhere.
To make up for the shortfall following the pandemic, 5,600 nurses were hired in the public healthcare system in 2023, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Health.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had said in 2023 that the ratio of local nurses to foreign nurses would be about 60 to 40 and that the “large majority” of its nursing workforce will continue to comprise locals from nursing school intakes and mid-career training programmes.
The main factors driving Indian nurses to seek opportunities in Singapore are better pay, the country’s English-language environment and its advanced healthcare set-up that allows them to boost their professional skills.
Indian nurses in Singapore can expect to earn anywhere from S$1,800 to $2,500 (RM6,300 to RM8,750) a month, which is significantly more than what they make back home – along with other benefits such as housing allowance and a one-time relocation support.
One out of eight Indian nurses works overseas, as per a report in The Hindu newspaper. In 2013, an estimate by two migration scholars suggested there are around 640,000 Indian nurses working overseas. — The Straits Times/ANN
