Pride and Arrogance of Singaporeans, a threat to the National Security of the Island State.A slip of the tongue let the naked truth out, the 'Singapore Population White Paper 2030 (2013)' incontrovertibly denigrating the nursing profession: defining it as
“low skilled” workers.[
Health officials in strong defence of nurses (The Sunday Times, 10 February 2013, Pg 8)].
Blogs that do not lie also report the truth:
"There’s a lot of verbal abuse that we’re suffer.We’re expected to be efficient despite being severely overworked (in Singapore)."[
TOC: 30Jan2015: 'Government: Hard to get SG locals to become nurse'].
With such a prevalent culture of prejudice and abuse against frontline service staff, not least the nursing profession, Singapore seems now dependent upon transient (foreign) service staff to man its hospitals:
'Singapore faces nurse shortfall for years to come' [
By Salma Khalik, The Straits Times, 15 Feb 2013]
"In the two years leading up to the opening of the 580-bed Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in 2010, about 7,400 nurses were added to the pool - of which more than 4,000 were foreign. ... The latest SNB annual report shows that the bulk of foreign nurses are from the Philippines, with close to 4,000 of them working here. "Although it is supposed that
"Singapore has 34,200 trained nurses", nothing is mentioned about their nationality/ citizenship.
Based upon numbers of nurses recruited annually however, the period from 2007- 2011 shows a
majority of the 14,882 nurses recruited in that period to be foreign sourced.
And as if the lack of nursing manpower adequacy issue wasn't severe enough, most of the Singapore population is so grossly unwell/ unfit, it might be a miracle if many reached bomb shelters without a heart attack killing them first. E.g.: 'A new dialysis patient every 5 hours in S'pore' [
ST, May 10 2015]; (
Feb2012: 'Health alert: One in 3 will develop diabetes'). Even the annual military reservist physical fitness test reveals as much, with under
40% medically cleared to attempt the test, and of this tiny population, less than half pass.
Even the social front is nothing to cheer about with
"Divorces in Singapore rose to an all time high in 2014, placing the republic’s divorce rate among the top six countries in Asia" (Mar2015): i.e. the fragmentation of the social compact, it is doubtful if Singapore NSmen would have much faith in the ability of the female half of society to provide decent medical care, let alone overcome the eclipse of thrust that a hostile divorce tends to incur.
Foreign talents of every kind, especially the qualified/ talented ones and their offspring are routinely evacuated home by their countries of origin in times of conflict, just as Singapore evacuated Singaporeans by from Yemen
"after Iranian-backed Houthi militia took control of the capital Sanaa".
When push comes to shove, Singaporeans will feel very insecure even in their own home.
The solution: - NS for women, focusing on nursing and preventive healthcare that even the Minister of Health himself admitted are woefully deficient:
“If you look around, our investments in health promotion and diseases prevention, I think... it is actually significantly lower than the amount of money we spend on treating diseases,” he (Minister Gan Kim Yong) said. [TDY, 11Feb2015:
'Empower consumers with holistic approach to healthcare: Gan Kim Yong'].
- 1.5yrs of hospitals, nursing homes, healthcare institution NS rotations as NS plus annual reservists 2-week practical skills-updates to obtain basic nursing competencies such that the healthcare system will not collapse in times of national disaster/ war.
(PS: whilst men would typically serve in combat positions and women in nursing ones, there is nothing to stop men from being posted to nursing vocations as long as the most suitable person is deployed (based upon fitness, education etc): NS can also be cut to 1-1.5 yrs with the more enlightened participation of women).
Outcome: Singapore women will cease to brainwash their kids into believing that nursing/ service professionals are “low skilled” workers. Singapore men will be more inspired to perform during national service when they notice parallel contributions by female citizens. The health and fitness status of every Singapore family can be expected to be very good since at least one parent in a nuclear family would have some medical experience and would thus be much more conscientious in adopting healthy lifestyle adaptations (having hands on experience about the strain upon society that preventable disease can cause). More Singaporeans will be proficient in serving others and for that earn an honest wage (rather than depending upon cheap sourced foreigners for assistance and getting wage supplement from gahmen(wage support schemes): and be qualified to train foreigners instead). Singapore will become a more compassionate society, and with new found military and social if not vocational confidence, Singaporeans can look forward to a much brighter future remaining home (i.e. no need to consider migrating to greener pastures).
PS: next time, PM Lee HL should please make a healthier choice to queue for, a nation is look up to him for a good example to follow:
