SINGAPORE:  , The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said on Monday ( Feb 18 ) that it will begin hiring foreigners to complement its emergency medical services ( EMS ) workforce from March 2025.  ,
The move comes after a surge in demand for emergency medical services over the past century, with , need expected to increase further in part due to Singapore’s ageing population, SCDF said in a media brochure.
Singaporeans and permanent residents make up the SCDF’s present EMS workforce.
In 2024, SCDF responded to 245, 279 emergency health services calls , – the comparative of , about 672 calls everyday. This is a 57 % increase over the phone level handled in 2014.
Nearly half of all EMS calling are from individuals aged 65 and over, SCDF said.
Beyond 2025, the number of health names is anticipated to increase in line with the population’s age. In order to meet the growing demand, SCDF will need to keep investing in its hospital ship, it said.
According to the statement, SCDF will start hiring foreigners as part of its ongoing efforts to complement the native EMS workforce because it is already experiencing a shortage of native workers for the positions of paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
” This strategy is in line with the tactics employed by the entire medical industry.”
Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim stated at a HomeTeamNS Khatib event on Tuesday that SCDF would first look to hire new EMS employees from different Southeast Asian nations.
If required, it will then appear beyond the area to increase its selection pool.
Singaporeans will continue to form the vast majority of SCDF’s workplace, and all international workers will “undergo demanding instruction” to ensure that they are “accredited to SCDF’s requirements”, it said.
According to the statement,” We will make sure that the foreign workers provide a level of service and expertise in accordance with SCDF’s EMS techniques.”
SCDF laid out the different strategies it has used to increase the need for emergency health services as it became more and more popular.
In addition, the company increased its EMS ship by hiring personal emergency operators in 2009, introduced a tiered-response model to assess its responses to medical cases based on their seriousness in 2017, and put in place of an a , non-dispatch plan, which requires that it only dispatch an ambulance when its 995 operations center determines a situation to be an actual emergency in 2023.