Mar 20, 2010
KUEH XIU QING
The number of foreign nurses is in fact not large - 16 per cent of all nurses here. There are currently 26,792 nurses practising here. -- ST PHOTO: JEROME MING GR
WHEN Ms Liu Fang started work here as a nurse in February last year after arriving from China, her landlord kept telling her to tone down her voice.
Ms Liu, 28, now happily adjusted to the local situation, said: 'People were reminding me to speak softly here. Actually, I didn't realise that I was being very loud. It's just the way I speak back in China.'
She also initially struggled with language issues at work but has since picked up common English phrases and learnt some Singlish, with help from her colleagues at Ren Ci Hospital.
The visible presence of foreign nurses, like Ms Liu, has led to concerns about whether they and their patients can easily understand each other.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) says there are currently about 4,300 foreign nurses in Singapore. But the majority come from the Philippines, where English is not an issue.
Also, the number of foreign nurses is in fact not large - 16 per cent of all nurses here. There are currently 26,792 nurses practising here.
Still, the need to deal with any communication problems with regard to foreign nurses is recognised.
