3,500 ILTC staff to get government-funded pay rise

SINGAPORE: The government will help to fund salary increments of 10 to 24 per cent for more than 3,500 administrative, ancillary and support care staff in the Intermediate and Long Term Care sector (ILTC).

This will apply to staff in Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) who make up more than half of the manpower in the ILTC sector.

The funding support will apply from September 2012, as part the pay review conducted by the Ministry of Health to better recruit and retain staff.

This was announced by Minister of State for Health and Manpower, Dr Amy Khor, at a healthcare awards ceremony on Friday.

S$195m in casino entry levies collected in 2011

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government collected S$195 million in casino entry levies last year.

S$93 million has been collected so far, in the first six months of this year.

As part of social safeguard measures, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents must pay a levy of S$100 a day or S$2,000 a year, for entry to Singapore's casinos.

Responding to a question in Parliament on Tuesday, Minister of State for Finance, Josephine Teo said the casino entry levies are collected by the Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board).

It's used for social and charitable purposes.

She added that the Tote Board does not specifically ring-fence the casino entry levies to fund measures to contain gambling ills.

Ms Teo said measures to contain gambling ills are funded separately.

MP for Jurong GRC Ang Wei Neng said: "If MBS earnings for the rest of the year is as strong as the first quarter this year, the total accumulated profits in terms of EBITA (a company's earnings before the deduction of interest, tax and amortisation expenses), will reach or exceed S$5 billion by the end of this year. This means MBS would have recovered all its initial investment of S$5 billion in less than three years."

Ms Teo said: "Yes, the casino operators have made more money, but at the same time, they've contributed to our tax revenues and through these tax revenues, the government is able to provide support to many Singaporeans in many areas and expand our resources in terms of care for Singaporeans."

She said since 2009, the government has more than doubled its expenditure on containing gambling ills, from S$3.8 million in FY09 to S$9 million in FY11.

Some key initiatives include the establishment of the National Council of Problem Gambling (NCPG), which administers casino exclusion, provides advice to the government on how to address problem gambling, and implements public education programmes to address problem gambling.

The government also provides grants to Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs), such as Family Service Centres, to defray the cost of counselling services that the VWOs provide to problem gamblers.

Separately, Ms Teo said in tandem with the profitability of the two integrated resorts, the government has also been collecting more taxes from them.

Ms Teo said the net increase in tax revenues from the two integrated resorts - Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa - in 2010 was S$900 million.

And in 2011, the figure was S$1.1 billion.

Medifund to be extended to home nursing services in 2012

Coming April this year, Medifund subsidies will be available for home-based healthcare services, said the Minister of Health Mr Gan Kim Yong.

Mr Yong was responding to a question asked by Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan, MP of Nee Soon GRC, in today's Parliamentary session.

Mr Tay asked if Medisave and Medishield schemes can be extended to home palliative care and home nursing services.

To that, Mr Yong said that the Government provides subsidies of up to 75 per cent for lower and middle income patients who require home palliative and home nursing services.

Patients can also use cash payouts from ElderShield to further defray the cost of such services.
For home palliative care, the Government has allowed use of Medisave funds since 2010.

However, as MediShield is designed as a basic insurance scheme for catastrophic hospitalisation expenses to keep premiums affordable, it is therefore unable to cover home-based services.

Nevertheless, needy patients who require additional financial assistance for home-based healthcare services beyond the subsidies they are receiving will be able to apply for Medifund subsidies soon.

The Government will be extending Medifund subsidies to such home-based services from April 2012, Mr Yong said.

Medifund is an endowment fund set by the Government.

The interest income from the capital sum of Medifund is allocated to approved hospitals and medical institutions in the form of grants, which are then used to help needy Singaporeans pay for the medical bills which they cannot afford.

Mr Yong added that the voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) that provide home-based services also provide additional financial help for their patients if necessary.

Mr Yong said the ministry will continue to review government subsidies and the use of ElderShield and Medisave to ensure affordability of such home-based services for the elderly, while balancing against the adequacy of Medisave and the impact on ElderShield premiums.