About 10,000 healthcare workers are needed in the next three years to look after the growing number of ageing Singapore residents, reports the Straits Times.

More than one-third of the healthcare vacancies will be for professional, managerial, executive and technical jobs such as doctors, nurses, facility managers and administrative staff, the Ministry of Health told The Sunday Times. The ministry announced in October that it needed 30,000 healthcare workers overall by 2020, and has now updated this to state that of these, 10,000 are required for the elderly care sector alone.

A ministry spokesperson has stated that the vacancies will be filled by both local and foreign workers. "We are ramping up efforts to build a stronger local core in the healthcare sector, such as investing in skills training and job redesign so that our healthcare workforce can do more at each level," the Ministry stated.

However, experts have said that Singaporeans are shunning jobs in the healthcare sector. Data from National Jobs Bank found more than 800 job vacancies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.

"There's the unpleasant job at the lowest level, bathing and cleaning frail people," Human resource consultant Martin Gabriel from HRMatters21, said. "Some people see it as a maid's job. To draw Singaporeans into the sector, there is a need to provide proper career progression and to minimise the parts o the job that are seen as unpleasant.”

According to experts, Singapore’s slowing economy and the stability of jobs in the healthcare sector could appeal to jobseekers and help fill recruitment needs.