20,000 more healthcare professionals needed

Singapore will need about 20,000 more healthcare professionals by 2020, in order to keep up with health infrastructure expansion, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong on Tuesday. This, in turn, is to cater to the growing healthcare needs of Singapore's ageing population.

With more hospitals coming up, Singapore will need to expand its healthcare workforce by 50 per cent by 2020.

To do this, the Government will train more workers locally by expanding the intake in medical schools here for doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists.

A third medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, will open next year with an initial intake of 50 students training to be doctors, and this will grow to 150 students a year eventually. This will boost Singapore's locally-trained supply of doctors to 500 a year.

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