Full-time NSFs Declaring Psychological or Mental Health Conditions Prior to Enlistment and Support Provided

Ms Gho Sze Kee asked the Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister for Defence (a) what have been the recent trends in the number of full-time National Servicemen (NSFs) declaring psychological or mental health conditions prior to enlistment or seeking support while in service; and (b) what measures are in place to ensure appropriate support for those with real needs.

Mr Speaker, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has an established mental health support system for its National Servicemen (NSmen). Then Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Heng Chee How, provided a comprehensive description of the system in his response to Parliamentary Questions from Mr Desmond Choo and Dr Wan Rizal on 7 March 2024. The Member can refer to that reply for the comprehensive system.

That said, let me provide some updated figures. The proportion of pre-enlistees detected to have mental health issues was 9% in 2024. For our Full-time NSF, 11% sought help for some form of mental health-related issues in 2024. While the figures vary year to year, there has been a general upward trend over time, similar to our national youth mental health trend.

The SAF will continue to work closely with families and relevant agencies to support our servicemen's mental well-being and health.

One supplementary question, please. Because the Central Manpower Base is administratively under the Ministry of Defence and handles the pre-enlistment of all uniformed services, I would like to ask the Minister of State, in light of the recent suicide attempt of a Singapore Police Force NSF using his own service arms, are there any plans to include psychological screening as part of the battery of pre-enlistment procedures?

I thank the Member for her question, and her care and concern for our NSFs. Today, the medical examination of pre-enlistees already includes screening for mental health conditions. Those with mental health conditions will be reviewed by our in-house psychiatrists. If it is assessed that they may pose harm to themselves or others, they will be deferred from NS until their conditions have improved and they pose no other risk to themselves or to their fellow NSFs.

These assessments are made by our in-house professionals, guided by our SAF Psychiatry Specialist Advisory Board. They are made up of experts from our hospitals. NSFs with mental health issues who are able to serve will receive additional monitoring while in service.

We recognise that mental health issues can surface later after the pre-enlistment stage. The SAF has a mental health support system in place to detect and support service personnel with mental health issues. This may include psychological first aid training for recruits to provide support for their buddies and training for our commanders. Likewise, the Home Team has a similar system.