You don’t have to be a Fortune Teller or Psychic to predict
Singapore’s future here. Easy, just write your prediction and state
your reason/s. I’ll go first.
I see Singapore in the near future would have to upgrade their
manpower shortages for National Service by enlisting the
Singaporean women 18 years of age and above, to do mandatory
National Service in the Health Industry and in SCDF.
There will be no NS servicemen for The Singapore Police Force and
SCDF too. They can only join the The Singapore Police
Force and SCDF as regular before they are enlisted
with or after they have completed their full-time NS of 2 years or
2.5 years with the Singapore Armed Forces, Royal Singapore Navy or
Royal Singapore Air Force. Likewise for the Singaporean women who
are 18 and above.
This is the past article contributed in The Straits Times forum
section...you can see below the article the comments....
GOOD, PRACTICAL REASONS TO HAVE NURSING AS NATIONAL
SERVICE
Published on Aug 4, 2012 LIKE Mr Peter Ong, I wonder how our
public health-care institutions would cope with the nurse shortage
if fewer foreign nurses were to work here ("The foreign nurse who
made a difference"; July 27). So it may be an opportune time for
the Government to study the viability of enlisting fresh N-level
school leavers or those with higher qualifications to serve
national service as nurses. The others could serve as nursing
assistants. They could be deployed in our public or community
hospitals, nursing homes and polyclinics after their training.
Besides alleviating the nurse shortage, there are other benefits:
We will become less dependent on foreigners to meet the increasing
demand for nurses to look after our ageing population. We could
steadily build up a pool of "operationally ready" local nurses who
can be activated in a national emergency or health crisis. At other
times, they could render medical first aid at home and within the
community. Our elderly patients will face fewer language barriers
when communicating with local nurses serving national service.
These nurses will have the knowledge and capability to better look
after their infirm parents or in-laws at home in the future, and
thus lessen the families' financial burden substantially. Those
with N or O levels may willingly choose to pursue a nursing career
as a result, because it may offer them better prospects than other
jobs. With early exposure to health care, some of these nurses may
decide to become full-time nurses after their stints. In short,
enlisting teenage Singaporean girls to serve national service as
nurses will benefit not only our country, but also the enlistees
and their families.
Ng Chee Kheon
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/good-practical-reasons-have-nursing-national-service
