AFGHAN healthcare workers used to operate with no prospects of picking up skills or improving their existing ones.

Training for doctors and nurses in Bamiyan province in Central Afghanistan was ad-hoc and arbitrary at best.

But all that is changed now with the help of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), which sent 10 men from the construction engineering team to the area in May: This month, some 100 Afghan healthcare workers will start their first medical classes in a new training facility.

The two-storey Regional Health Training Centre now hothouses healthcare workers in areas such as pre- and post-natal care, vaccination and public education programmes.

Two teams from the SAF who oversaw the building of the one-stop health training centre over the last six months returned to their families here on Oct 31.

On Monday, members of the team were among 59 servicemen awarded the SAF Overseas Service Medal. Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean also handed out medals to servicemen who supported multi-national reconstruction and relief efforts in Iraq, Timor-Leste and Nepal.

At the awards ceremony, Mr Teo spoke of the importance of Singapore pitching in to build a more secure and stable environment, especially in an interconnected world where security problems in far-flung countries can hit close to home.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.