SINGAPORE - The multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19 could not have functioned without the “quiet work” led by Permanent Secretary for Health Chan Yeng Kit, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said.
In social media posts on April 8, Mr Ong described Mr Chan as a “close colleague”.
He noted that Mr Chan, 59, joined the Ministry of Health (MOH) from the Defence Ministry in December 2019, just one month before the Covid-19 pandemic struck Singapore.
Mr Ong’s comments come after the Public Service Division announced on April 8 that Mr Chan would leave the Ministry of Health on July 15 and will be seconded to SPH Media – which publishes titles including The Straits Times and Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao – as its chief executive.
“Yeng Kit sometimes quipped that he might have been a jinx for the ministry,” said Mr Ong.
“I like to think that his posting was prescient, and he came to MOH where he was most needed,” he added.
Mr Chan led at MOH doing “a lot of quiet work in the background”, Mr Ong said, including an immense workload of planning, execution and data collection to understand the situation.
“He does not say much at meetings because his contribution is in the background, without which the multi-ministry task force could not function,” the minister added.
Succeeding Mr Chan as permanent secretary for health will be Ms Lai Wei Lin, who will relinquish her appointments as permanent secretary for transport development and second permanent secretary for finance on July 1.
Mr Ong said that he turned to Mr Chan again to tackle the challenge of Singapore’s ageing population – a problem that required a “fairly fundamental transformation” of the healthcare system.
He added that under Mr Chan’s lead, MOH also undertook initiatives such as preventive health programme Healthier SG, even as it was fighting a pandemic.
Mr Ong noted that the ministry also took steps to ramp up healthcare manpower, putting into place measures to attract, develop and retain talent in the sector, as well as introducing salary guidelines for the community care sector, and taking a strong stance against abuse and harassment of healthcare workers.
“At a personal level, I am deeply appreciative of Yeng Kit’s stewardship of the ministry. He is always calm and level-headed, and offers insights and practical solutions that only years of experience can bring,” said Mr Ong.
While noting that leading SPH Media would be different from MOH, Mr Ong said he believed Mr Chan’s “innate qualities and years of experience in public service” would serve him well in facing the challenges.
