Singapore hospitals struggle to meet demand for radiographers, pharmacists amid shortage in healthcare workers

The crunch has been getting worse since the COVID-19 pandemic, as institutions continue to tackle an ongoing lack of nurses and allied health professionals.SINGAPORE: Some critical healthcare roles in Singapore, such as radiographers and pharmacists, are in short supply, according to a few private hospitals.

“Currently, other than nurses, we are looking for radiographers, as well as sonographers and pharmacists,” said IHH Healthcare Singapore’s chief people officer Gan Kian Keong. At the Singapore Institute of Technology’s four-year bachelor of science with honours Diagnostic Radiography programme, students learn to produce medical images of the human body, which are typically used to diagnose or treat illness or injury.

“My experience as a cardiac tech helped me see that it is very important to have good diagnostics – it's crucial to saving patients’ lives. A good diagnostic versus a bad one could mean life or death for a patient. And this is why I chose ,” she said. Ms Tong said that many of her colleagues often juggle a heavy patient load, and face exhaustion and fatigue.

The shortage of radiographers can be seen in the struggle the department faces in covering its workload when one colleague is on leave, she added.The lack of talent to fill these critical roles is piling the pressure on hospitals at a time when nurses are already in short supply.IHH Healthcare said it is recruiting from Indonesia and India to fill its ranks, as well as previously less explored markets such as China and Taiwan.

“Nurses are leaving Singapore for overseas, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada where overall cost of living is lower and they get to be with their family as they are given long-term visas to live there,” the hospital’s spokesperson told CNA in a statement.Industry players said that as the number of healthcare institutions increase in Singapore, the shortage of workers looks set to be more dire.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

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