Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

The number of police reports of harassment or abuse of public healthcare workers in Singapore while on duty is rising.

This is according to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) statistics provided by Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Jul. 3, 2023, in response to Member of Parliament (MP) Louis Ng's request for numbers for the past five years.

315 reports of harassment of public healthcare workers between 2018 and 2022

Shanmugam said that between 2018 and 2022, there were 315 police reports of abuse or harassment of public healthcare workers on duty.

The number of police reports had increased from 71 in 2021 to 99 in 2022.

The total number of warnings issued and convictions secured in the same year of the reports increased from 40 in 2021 to 50 in 2022.

On Ng's question of whether protection orders were issued for the healthcare workers, Shanmugam said MHA does not have the numbers as protection orders are obtained by the victims applying to the courts and are not issued by the police.

1,792 persons convicted of abuse against children between 2013 and 2022

MP Carrie Tan asked Shanmugam how many people have been convicted of assaulting children in the past 10 years and how many of the cases involved personnel of service providers such as schools, learning centres, tuition centres and enrichment centres.

Replying to Tan, Shanmugam mentioned that between 2013 and 2022, there were 1,794 persons convicted of serious hurt offences, ill-treatment, and sexual offences against children under the age of 16.

Of these cases, about 2 per cent worked in educational settings, such as schools, learning centres, tuition centres and enrichment centres at the time of the offence.

A yearly breakdown was provided:

Top photo via SGH and MCI