SIA Group, MOH, PSD ink agreement to train and deploy airline staff during national crises

When Singapore’s public agencies and healthcare institutions faced manpower shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 2,000 Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group employees stepped up to serve as front-liners from March 2020. These included more than 900 cabin crew members, who helped to care for patients in healthcare institutions, such as hospitals, so nurses and other healthcare workers could focus on those who needed more complex care. Building on this experience, the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Public Service Division (PSD), and SIA Group inked an agreement on Jan 15 to collaborate on manpower planning and deployment for future national crises, they said in a joint statement. “The trilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) strengthens our national collective resilience and agility to respond to future crises,” the statement added. The three organisations will collaborate by training and deploying cabin crew in support care roles in peacetime, as well as conducting tabletop exercises to put their crisis response protocols to the test, the statement said. Other than working in healthcare, SIA and Scoot employees also served as transport ambassadors, contact tracing executives and social service office processing officers during the pandemic. SIA CEO Goh Choon Phong said SIA Group worked with MOH and PSD during the pandemic to transition its employees to front-line roles as it had a surplus of manpower while public sector organisations were short of staff.<br/>