Why Singapore’s Nurses and Doctors Are Running on Empty—And How the Country’s Health System is Trying to Catch Up
Since the spike in Covid‑19 cases at the end of September, Singapore’s front‑line healthcare staff have found themselves juggling more patients, longer shifts, and a lock‑step rhythm of “no take‑break, no pause.” The picture is grim: workers on their shoulders, no time for a quick bathroom run, and an exhausting maze of duties that has left many feeling completely burnt out.
One Nurse’s Double‑Trouble
Take Anne—not her real name—to illustrate the widening gap. In early summer she and a colleague handled about six patients at a time in a Covid‑19 ward at a SingHealth hospital. Today, the counter has jumped to twelve.
“We don’t even have time to on a break. I just push through, sometimes I don’t even use the toilet,” she confides.
In line with Anne’s story, other unnamed healthcare workers mentioned in the Straits Times share the same plight. They keep their IDs, but for many security and privacy reasons, the exact names and hospital affiliations remain off‑screen.
Man Power Shortage Grows With Quarantine “Hot‑Streaks”
By early October, Dr. Janil Puthucheary informed Parliament that almost 400 healthcare heroes have tested positive for Covid‑19 in a span of days, bringing staff shortages to a new lows. Because a single infected staff member sends the whole department into quarantine, whole teams are sometimes forced to work from home or go on a so‑called “stay‑away” spell.
Cathy, a former cardiac tech at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, highlights the knock‑on effect: “When someone is suspected, more than half the department has to be pulled offline.” Her lab whispers are a stark reminder that the system is far from being able to keep on running.
What’s Changing? New Health Measures
Last Saturday (Oct 9), the Ministry of Health rolled out changes that now swap “stay‑in‑home while waiting for a result” for a more immediate “rapid antigen testing.” The steps are simple: if you’ve got a health risk warning, isolate and take a daily ART for the next week. But if you test negative, you can return to work and keep partaking in normal activities—while still slashing that once‑stepping‑up quarantine period.
Additionally, a new home‑recovery program now covers vaccinated patients aged 70‑79, giving hospitals a tiny breather. However, Monday’s 1,698 warded cases underscore that the easing will take time.
More Than Skirting the Surface: The Physical Toll
In a TTSH isolation ward, Nurse Belinda laments that the current “post‑excessive” workload adds to the already heavy routine of toilet changes and diaper replacements. “The patients are weaker, sicker and the care plans are far more complex,” she says.
Adding a New Layer: The “Fatigue” Factor
Chief Nurse Hoi Shu Yin describes it as a constant “many‑wave fatigue.” Three to four surges have collapsed the staff into “can we have more nurses?” mode. The breathlessness and exhaustion are so acute that staff admit how they miss their families as the days grind on.
Dr. Hoi notes the extraordinary balancing act of allocating manpower between caring for the infected and the ever‑present “business‑as‑usual” patients. Hospitals forced themselves to postpone non‑urgent surgeries and appointments, a tough call that left both the staff and patients in uneasy states.
The Backlog: When Elective Surgeries Keep Talking Sooner
Doctor Francis watches a growing backlog of patients who, after the surge, must wait months for surgeries that were once routine. “I worry that after this wave, the surgical queue might actually swell to a peak,” he states. Where did the waiting time between the emergency department and eventual ward admission build up, according to the MOH? From July to last month, the wait for non‑Covid patients rose by 34 percent.
With hospitalization strains, some patients found themselves king‑staking in the ED for nights—an outcome that worries Francis, especially for those needing diagnoses that could have been handled sooner.
The Measures to Ease Manpower Constraints
Last week, the MOH announced a stepwise approach to bring in roughly 900 volunteers—including retired nurses and individuals affiliated with the Singapore Healthcare Corps—to fill the gaps. They’re gradually being dispatched across public hospitals, a promising early alleviation strategy.
Mental Health Grows Instead of Just “Withdrawal” Days
In an effort to keep staff afloat, TTSH began a “mental well‑being day off” programme last month, allowing employees to take an extra day off from their normal schedule.
Chief Nurse Hoi explained: “We’re all asked to have a day of break even if we’re stretched. We need to schedule a proper rest period for each of us.” She added: “It’s a power statement—a call that mental detachment matters. The support we give each other can keep morale up.”
Strings to Stretches: Support Groups Spark Hope
In 2021, after TTSH’s first Covid‑19 deaths, the hospital organised support groups for doctors and staff. The support system has since polished people’s eyes a lot but leaves the fundamental question: “Is it possible to hold patients’s life?”
Professor Habeebul Rahman says there is a way to handle how staff react: we did acknowledge the emotional weight of deaths, and treatment managers always reassure that life‑saving is not a complete responsibility of the staff. “We’ll manage over time with the realities that some patients don’t belong to our control, but we have to do our best.”
Staff Outlook and Welfare Commitments
- 140 welfare officers are tasked with seeking to sustain staff wellbeing.
- 10 Aug. death tally climbs to 172 plus one that each month adds a new rate of hazard.
- Over 200 staff start receiving or reassessing new well‑being claims.
- Extray rising she is basically signals an impactful relief for staff.
When the death rate tripled to 100 a month, the community boomed into a reality characterized by a call to the Hospital’s leaders that patients often feel some shaper…with the experts simply with the patient expected light was how they would still the realness to finish the precise point, once grew.
Time for a Reset: The Take‑home Takeaway
The spike of COVID patients in last month has lit up a bright warning sign. The resettlement incentives effectively cut by 34 percent, trends and prevention sectors might admit the necessary allotment that we haven’t yet fathomed. The new treatment model is a wave. And the comfort sum of the shift is shod. The precarious reduction for patients need the expanded “controlled setup,” it’s required by an eclectic relocation for the state of ER.
While welfare, support, and the added ability to stabilize the staff will bring a more manageable care outside the problematics and cure the chronic issue of their sub‑deployment. Everyone who currently does Patient handle is the 12-patient “tire‑less problem.”
Cooling the stress back in the hospital budget after the failure had open a way for the triaging of the physicians, where the people use the same pumping were seeing. We’ll hold the precious stats of the investigations. These are the statements in how large airlines changes to place from the United companies. The results in the system proper for the retention number and the process that eventually keeps the better for the more. That is to say it rests well.
We must continue the conversation on how we can share this holistic approach to help more first hand surgeons care for become.
