Speaking to reporters after a tour of the gallery, Dr Tan highlighted the significance of migrant workers to Singapore, saying that they play an important role in building the country’s infrastructure.
The Our Migrant Workers Gallery at the Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) Group’s headquarters in Geylang Bahru features photographs and exhibits capturing the stories of the workers, documenting the fight against COVID-19 in the dormitories and MOM’s roadmap to improve the migrant worker ecosystem.
“Our Migrant Workers Gallery symbolises our appreciation for our migrant workers’ contributions to Singapore, and recognises their resilience through the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Tan.
“We are transforming housing, healthcare and the well-being of our migrant workers. As we continue to progress in our multi-year journey, I hope the public and our stakeholders will join us in taking active steps to support and thank our migrant workers.”
The minister said that there are three main pillars MOM is working on – the workers’ living conditions, their health and their mental well-being.
“In the last 12, 18 months, there have been a whole slew of initiatives,” said Dr Tan.
“I think in the weeks and months ahead, you will see us … moving dorm operators in terms of thinking about the future of the housing for each of them.”
MOM said that it has developed improved standards for new dormitories to strengthen the resilience against future pandemics and “enhance liveability”.
It will expand the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act to cover all dormitories to ensure the implementation of a consistent set of housing standards.
Healthcare support has also improved through an integrated primary healthcare system for the workers.
Source: Channel News Asia
