State of Mental Health as Consideration when Granting Work Passes to Foreigners

Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Health whether the mental health situation in Singapore can be a factor for consideration whether or not to grant work passes to trained foreign nationals who would like to work in Singapore to offer treatment and services to the community but may not meet quota or salary requirements for applicable passes.

The Ministry of Manpower provides more work passes on flexible criteria for sectors facing urgent needs, in consultation with the relevant agencies, such as in healthcare, where demand cannot be fully filled by our local workforce. These healthcare professionals are also required to meet the standards for practice in Singapore.

Beyond hiring more manpower to support mental health services, we need to strengthen support in the community by tapping on frontline personnel and volunteers, as well as building up the competencies of existing service providers to better care for persons with mental health needs. That is why we have introduced the Tiered Care Model under the National Mental Health and Well-being Strategy to better organise mental health services across the health and social sectors, according to the severity of individuals' mental health needs. This will lay the foundation for further strategic enhancements to the mental health ecosystem and improve access to care.