From November, a new system will be rolled out to provide primary healthcare for migrant workers here and reduce the risks of future disease outbreaks through active surveillance. The new system will deliver healthcare in six geographical sectors, with each sector housing at least 40,000 migrant workers both in and out of dormitories. Each of the six sectors will be anchored by a medical centre for migrant workers, which will be complemented by on-site centres in three larger dormitories, at least two mobile clinical teams, round-the-clock telemedicine consultations, and ambulance and special transport services.

Essentially, each of the six medical centres will constitute the first-line outpatient facility. Also, they will be used for public health surveillance, and be equipped with testing capabilities and isolation facilities to halt the spread of diseases such as Covid-19. It would be a mistake to see in this move an attempt to isolate foreign workers socially. Instead, its intention is to provide for the well-being of workers in a way that suits their financial and cultural needs. For example, it is not feasible to staff polyclinics with doctors and healthcare workers from countries such as Bangladesh, China and India, which would minimise linguistic and cultural barriers with workers from those nations. That would be possible with the setting up of the dedicated facilities serving a far smaller segment of the population than polyclinics do. Adding capacity to the health system to provide these services also eases the already heavy load on polyclinics.