Extension of COVID-19 Healthcare Award to Outsourced Workers in Patient Care Areas

Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Health whether the definition of "all staff of public healthcare institutions" mentioned in the 5 November 2021 speech for the COVID-19 Healthcare Award includes outsourced workers in patient-facing roles and patient care areas.

As announced on 5 November 2021, the COVID-19 Healthcare Award (CHA) is intended to cover workers from outsourced service providers. However, there are many types of outsourced workers, including some who come into the hospital premises on an ad hoc basis to perform specific tasks. Hence, the general rule is to extend CHA to the outsourced workers whose primary workplace is the premises of public healthcare institutions (PHIs) and serve alongside permanent staff and play an integral part in keeping our publicly-funded healthcare services running smoothly.

Hence, there will be recognition given to outsourced staff who are directly contracted by the PHIs and publicly-funded Community Care Organisations (CCOs) to provide on-site services. MOH is working with the PHIs and CCOs on the amount, eligibility criteria and implementation details, and the employers of these outsourced staff will be informed in due course.