SINGAPORE: Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had good news for Singapore’s nurses on Tuesday (Feb 20) with a new scheme with a cash incentive for years of service called ANGEL.
The scheme says that a nurse may receive as much as S$100,000 over 20 years, with nurses in public healthcare institutions under the age of 46 getting between S$20,000 to S$30,000 every four to six years.
Nurses older than 46 will be getting between S$5,000 and S$15,000 in a one-off recognition payout depending on their length of service, provided they have been in service for a minimum of five years.
Every three years afterwards, they’ll receive S$15,000 until they reach the S$100,00 maximum or upon retirement age.
Nurses from other countries are also eligible for the payout if they have served continuously for at least four years as of or after September 2024.
At the moment, Singapore’s retirement age is 63, but the government plans to raise it to 65 by 2030.
More information on ANGEL is available in a statement on MOH’s website, which says, “With the introduction of ANGEL, we hope to encourage nurses to stay and continue to contribute to the public healthcare system, as well as to attract more to take up nursing as a career.”
ANGEL is short for Award for Nurses’ Grace, Excellence and Loyalty, which the Ministry of Health came up with after getting some AI help.
Mr Ong announced the scheme at the monthly nurses’ forum of the National University Hospital. Around 29,000 nurses in the public healthcare system will benefit from ANGEL.
Mr Ong noted in his post that the announcement concerning ANGEL was greeted with “loud cheers and applause” by the nurses.
“As our population ages, the demand for healthcare services and manpower will continue to increase.
MOH is committed to building up our nursing workforce to meet Singapore’s future needs by improving the attractiveness of the nursing profession, growing the local nursing training pipelines for both fresh graduates and mid-career entrants, as well as recruiting foreign nurses to augment our local core.
Beyond remuneration and awards, we have put in place other attraction and retention measures for healthcare workers in general, such as supporting mid-career entrants, providing career development and progression, and ensuring a conducive work environment through the prevention of abuse and harassment of healthcare workers,” MOH added./TISG
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