Debated in Parliament on 7 Oct 2019.
Dr Chia Shi-Lu asked the Minister for Health (a) what are the measures to attract more students and healthcare professionals to specialise in geriatric medicine and other relevant specialties; and (b) how effective have these measures been so far.
To meet the needs of our ageing population, we need more healthcare professionals who are trained to serve older patients in general. We also need more specialists in geriatric medicine and related fields such as rehabilitation care and palliative care.
Today, all medical students are exposed to geriatric medicine and related disciplines early in their training. In addition, MOH has increased the number of training positions for specialists in these disciplines. From 2013 to 2019, the specialist training intake for geriatric medicine, rehabilitation medicine and palliative medicine more than doubled from 11 to 23 positions. Specialists trained in Geriatric Medicine receive an additional allowance.
To raise the ability of our pharmacists to care for the elderly, a local training programme in Geriatric Pharmacy was started in 2016. The programme has trained three pharmacists to date, and aims to train another nine pharmacists in the next three years.
For nursing, hospitals are conducting in-house structured courses on Gerontology Nursing to equip nurses with the skills and knowledge in caring for older adults. Specialty training, such as the Advanced Diploma in Nursing (Gerontology), are also available for nurses who are interested in this field. In the last seven years, 497 nurses have undergone this diploma.
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