SINGAPORE - More than 37,000 healthcare workers who are at risk of losing their jobs received a boost on Tuesday (Dec 3), as two new training committees were set up to help them reskill amid changes in the industry.

The National Healthcare Group (NHG) and Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) - which hire some 37,000 healthcare workers in total - have formed company training committees, with both signing memorandums of understanding with the labour movement-led Healthcare Academy on Tuesday to further help their workers in skills upgrading.

These workers represent more than 60 per cent of workers in the healthcare sector, NHG, SingHealth and the Healthcare Academy said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Key areas that the new committees will target include facilitating the transition of workers into new or redesigned job roles, teaching new skills to bolster their work prospects and preparing them to be more at home with recent technological advances.

President of the Healthcare Services Employees' Union (HSEU), Ms K. Thanaletchimi, said of the latest efforts: "This is the first step, but an important one. I look forward to... translating these changes into real actionables for workers."

Hospital porters, pharmacy assistants and health attendants are among healthcare workers who stand to benefit from the latest initiative.

The three groups said recent efforts have already been made to help workers, such as the HSEU's work with Khoo Teck Puat Hospital that helped 46 hospital porters take on roles more closely related to patient care.

They attended a management course, as well as patient care and therapy and nutrition courses conducted by Republic Polytechnic, and have been appointed healthcare chaperones who are now training under nurses at Khoo Teck Puat's wards.

In their joint statement on Tuesday, the three groups also pledged to work closer together so workers "can continue having meaningful careers in healthcare".