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All healthcare workers in Singapore are now allowed to applied for overseas leave.

In response to Mothership's queries, the Ministry of Health (MOH) stated that an internal circular on the matter had been issued on Oct. 16 to public healthcare institutions.

Acknowledging that the workload at hospitals was immense, with healthcare workers under significant pressure, the ministry said that it recognised the need for staff to "recharge and rest" after fighting the pandemic for a long period of time.

It said:

"The public healthcare institutions will work to strike a balance for leave applications from staff so that staff can take turns to go on leave, while providing sufficient staffing for essential healthcare services."

Staff must still comply with internal guidelines of their respective institutions

The statement further clarified:

"Staff should continue to comply with prevailing national travel advisories. As with any leave applications, they will need to discuss the duration and timing of their leave applications with their supervisors, and comply with any internal guidelines that may be communicated to them by their institution. If in doubt, staff should check with their institution for further details."

In the case of SingHealth, an internal circular seen by Mothership revealed that taking overseas leave is still subject to approval by each staff's Head of Department (HOD).

When deciding to approve leave applications for overseas travel, HODs will take into account considerations such as the need for adequate staffing of clinic services, sufficient manpower reserves to accumulate a surge in Covid-19 cases and the prevailing national travel advisory, SingHealth's circular said.

In addition, the conditions for SingHealth staff to take overseas leave remain unchanged. These conditions are:

• In the event that overseas travel is suspended under the prevailing national travel advisory, approved leave applications will be suspended, with staff having to bear all cancellation costs.
• Staff have to pay for accommodation for serving of Stay-Home Notice (SHN), Covid-19 PCR swab tests, and any other additional costs incurred as part of Covid-19 safe travel requirements.
• Should staff need to serve any SHN, quarantine or lock-down resulting from their personal overseas trips, they have to use their own Annual Leave (AL), or No-Pay Leave if their AL is exhausted.

Additional requirements on healthcare workers returning from overseas travel have been removed

Separately, another circular sent on Oct. 18 by MOH and seen by Mothership said that healthcare workers would no longer be subjected to additional testing requirements and restrictions upon returning from overseas travel.

In line with the MOH circular, the SingHealth circular further clarified that in light of the ministry's guidelines, additional precautionary measures for staff returning from overseas such as restrictions (such as being restricted to non-patient facing duties) and Covid-19 PCR or ART swab tests will be removed with immediate effect.

However, staff working in settings deemed "high risk" may be required to undertake additional measures upon their return.

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Top photo via SingHealth Facebook