SINGAPORE - MOH Holdings (MOHH) is looking to appoint an operator to retrofit and manage existing vacant buildings, to provide hostel-type accommodation for foreign healthcare workers who are new to Singapore and employed by public healthcare institutions.

In a joint press statement issued by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and MOHH on Monday, a spokesman said MOHH launched a request for proposal on the same day for an operator to manage accommodation facilities at five sites, which have the capacity to house an estimated 1,800 occupants in total.

The new foreign healthcare workers who will benefit from this move are mainly nurses and allied health professionals. They will be eligible for this new accommodation arrangement when they first arrive in Singapore, before they subsequently transit to housing options available in the market.

This is part of MOH’s plans to ensure a steady flow of manpower to meet Singapore’s growing healthcare demands. The pipeline comprises local talent, which forms the majority of the healthcare workforce, complemented by trained foreign healthcare workers, said the spokesman.

Singapore has been taking steps to ease the manpower crunch in healthcare. It is expected to employ almost 4,000 new nurses by the year end, with about 60 per cent of them being foreigners.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question by Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong GRC) in July on whether MOH had studied the feasibility of hospital-provided accommodation at concessionary rates as part of supporting healthcare workers, the ministry said then that it was looking into facilitating hostel-type accommodation to support new foreign healthcare workers when they first arrive in Singapore.

The public healthcare clusters also provide their foreign healthcare workers with a housing allowance to help defray their accommodation expenses, added MOH in the parliamentary reply.

The spokesman said healthcare hostels are one way to better onboard healthcare workers after they first arrive here.

“The hostels will adopt a co-living, hostel-type accommodation concept. Each bedroom is expected to be shared by two occupants, and the facilities will include amenities such as a dining area, pantry, laundry room and common social spaces,” said the spokesman.

The five sites will be able to accommodate about 200 to 600 occupants each. They are:

• 1A Short Street (site of former student hostel);
• 100 Ulu Pandan Road (site of former student hostel);
• 107 Circuit Road (site of former school);
• 36 & 38 Teck Whye Crescent (site of former school); and
• 60 Boundary Close (site of former workers’ dormitory)

The tender also seeks proposals for another 11 potential sites, which include one brownfield site and 10 greenfield sites, as a preliminary study. MOH and MOHH will monitor the use of the facilities at the five sites listed above, before assessing the need to develop these additional sites.

Works at the five identified sites are expected to commence from end-2023, and the facilities will progressively be ready from the second quarter of 2024.

The request for proposal was put up on business-to-business procurement platform Sesami, and will close on Sept 11.