PM Lee Hsien Loong (center) declares that the 'patient sounds alright' to him after being invited to 'listen' to the dummy patient's heartbeat with a stethescope during a visit to Nanyang Polytechnic's School of Health Sciences. --ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
THERE can be no let up in the push to retrain workers as it will take 'some time' for the battered economy to recover, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday.
'The problems will be with us for some time. We must make sure that we prepare our people so that they can be as employable as possible and can endure through this downturn,' he told reporters after visiting two Continuing Education and Training (CET) centres.
His remarks were made in reply to questions on recent comments made by United States officials that there are glimmers of hope in the American economy.
'I hope they are right, but I'm preparing on the basis that this will take some time,' said PM Lee.
The two adult training centres he visited are Nanyang Polytechnic's School of Health Sciences and At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy in Fort Canning.
At Nanyang, about 140 workers are getting new skills for work in healthcare, one of several growth sectors here. The Health Ministry plans to hire about 4,500 workers in the next two years.
At-Sunrice is training about 500 students a year for careers in the food and beverage industry.
