‘Rigorous’ process in deciding who gets COVID-19 Resilience Medals, says MOH as it acknowledges whole-of-society effort in pandemic fight

“MUST HAVE CONSISTENTLY MANAGED EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH WORKLOAD”

In its response to TODAY’s queries, MOH said it took an approach to be as inclusive as possible when conferring the COVID-19 Resilience Medals while maintaining a rigorous nomination process.

There are also no quotas set on the number of people who received the award.

“Naturally, eligible criteria would need to be set,” it added. 

To qualify for the award, individuals must have, on a sustained basis during the pandemic, managed the public health crisis at the frontlines, supported frontline operations, such as vaccination, testing, managing dormitories or recovery facilities, or managed the consequences of COVID-19 on Singapore’s economy, supply chains or social cohesion, MOH said.

Public and private healthcare institutions and relevant industry partners were asked to submit their nominations from October last year to March this year to MOH.

“The nominating institution or agency must assess that the awardees had consistently managed exceptionally high workload due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with justification required for each nominee,” MOH said. 

On May 31, the list of awardees was published in the Government Gazette and on the Prime Minister’s Office website. 

Between then and end-August, MOH added more awardees from the healthcare sector following their appeals for the COVID-19 Resilience Medal “in the spirit of being inclusive”.

MOH did not mention how many more awardees were added during this stage.

It added that those who have yet to collect their medals, including former employees, will be contacted by their respective healthcare institutions and agencies to arrange for direct collection from these institutions.

MOH then stated that it wanted to put on record its thanks to all who have made contributions and sacrifices to keep Singapore safe.

“It was indeed a whole-of-society effort that has enabled Singapore to emerge stronger from the pandemic.”

This story was first published on TODAY.