With three in four adults working, he said the workplace was a 'logical place' to promote healthy living.

For a start, companies could throw out junk food from their canteen or cafeteria, and get employees to measure their waistlines so the fatter ones could be encouraged to lose weight.

Speaking at the 11th annual Helping Employees Achieve Life-Time Health Awards at Suntec City on Thursday, Mr Khaw said the past decade has seen more companies join the movement.

Now, he wants to shift the movement to a higher gear, with companies doing more. He gave four reasons why such a move is necessary.

Half the people here with chronic ailments like diabetes are unaware of it. Of those who know, half are not taking their medicine regularly or changing their lifestyles to improve their healths.

With the population ageing rapidly, the call on medical facilities will increase. While more hospitals are being built, he said it would be 'far more effective to try to reduce demand by preventing ill-health.

Singapore will be extending retirement age and promoting re-employment of older workers. 'No employer is keen to re-employ a sickly employee,' he said.

Healthcare costs will continue to rise, so it is a 'no-brainer' for companies to keep staff healthy to reduce loss productivity, absenteeism and medical benefits, all of which will 'hurt the company bottom-line'.

Dr Khaw said the ministry is not the only one who should be pushing for this. Everyone has a stake.

He said: 'No employee wants to fall sick. No employer wants his employees to be sick. No colleague likes to be burdened whenever his other colleagues report sick.

'All insurers hope that nobody falls sick. We are all on the same side of the battlefield. We are natural partners in this fight against workplace ill-health.'