askST: What does moving away from PES status mean for those serving NS?

SINGAPORE – On April 13, the Government announced changes to the medical classification system (MCS) that will let full-time national servicemen (NSFs) be eligible for a wider range of vocations.

Under the refreshed system, those enlisting with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) from October 2027 and the Home Team from November 2027 will no longer be given a Physical Employment Standard (PES) status.

Instead, pre-enlistees will be told of their specific medical exemptions, if any, based on their medical conditions and in line with their functional abilities.

This is the most consequential update to the MCS since 2009, when the SAF introduced new basic military training (BMT) programmes for PES B2, PES C and obese enlistees.

The Straits Times looks at what the changes mean for incoming NSFs.

With no more PES status, how will servicemen be medically classified?

Pre-enlistees undergoing medical screening from end-June 2026 will be taken through a series of tests involving body parts such as the ankle, knee and lower back.

Called functional tests, they assess an individual’s ability to carry out specific tasks despite his medical diagnosis. This provides MINDEF with an understanding of his functional capacity and what he can do during his national service, said Adjunct Assistant Professor Jason Chia, chairman of the SAF Pre-enlistment Functional Test Expert Work Group.

Previously, medical screening involved only clinical diagnosis and imaging and did not give a full picture of what a serviceman can or cannot do, said Prof Chia, who is the head of the sports medicine and surgery clinic at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Tracking the progress of servicemen who have undergone functional testing since 2022, Prof Chia said they have been able to perform their jobs and duties without adverse effects or recurrence of injuries.

From the medical screening, pre-enlistees will receive specific exemptions based on their medical conditions, instead of a broad PES status.

On enlistment, NSFs will be funnelled into three different programmes for their BMT, or their basic training with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) or police, depending on their medical exemptions.

Enlistees without training- or activity-related medical exemptions will be routed to BMT Programme 1, which includes physical training, the Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT), standard obstacle course (SOC) and route marches.

Those enlisting with one or more medical exemptions will go through Programme 2, which will have calibrated physical training and adjusted field activities.

Enlistees with multiple or significant training- or activity-related medical exemptions will go through Programme 3, which is further scaled down and focused on basic soldiering fundamentals.

Existing NSFs and operationally ready national servicemen (NSmen) will retain their PES status under the refreshed MCS, unless they have any changes in their medical conditions. The current PES system remains robust and safe, said MINDEF and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

How will vocation postings change?

The BMT programme an NSF undergoes will decide which vocations he is eligible for.

For instance, those in Programme 1 will be eligible for roles across the three broad categories of combat, combat support and combat service support.

Those in Programme 2 will be eligible for combat support and combat service support roles. They will also qualify for selected combat vocations, such as those of sea soldier, tank gunner and loader or combat security trooper.

NSFs in Programme 3 will be eligible for combat service support roles, such as in logistics and maintenance. They will also be eligible for some combat support roles that do not require high physical demands and are therefore commensurate with their medical conditions, such as those of signal operator and medic.

The upshot is that under the refreshed MCS, there will be more opportunities for servicemen to take on a broader range of vocations.

For example, a serviceman with a seafood or peanut allergy would be graded PES C under the current system, which makes him ineligible for the IPPT and SOC and limits the vocations he can take up.

A serviceman with mild hearing loss would be graded PES B2 and be ineligible for the SOC, which would also limit his vocation eligibility.

Under the refreshed MCS, these servicemen would be assessed to be able to take part in such training, opening up the possibility of taking on vocations they would previously be ineligible for. 

Adjunct Professor Malcolm Mahadevan, 61, an emergency physician at National University Hospital, said the refreshed MCS is a more dynamic one that takes into account the recovery of servicemen from past injuries.

Prof Mahadevan is a father of three sons, including Third Sergeant Benjamin Malcolm Mahadevan, 20, who is now in full-time national service as a system specialist with the Digital and Intelligence Service’s Joint Intelligence Command headquarters.

As he had old basketball injuries from before his enlistment – including a shoulder dislocation and a meniscus tear in his knee – 3SG Benjamin enlisted with a PES B4 status. This limited his role as a system specialist providing situational awareness for the SAF to working in an indoor environment.

3SG Benjamin sought a medical review when he was posted to his unit. This resulted in an upgrade to PES B2, allowing him to engage in outfield activities in his current role.

Prof Mahadevan said in an interview with the media: “NS is a learning experience, and I think the young men who go through NS can learn (more) with a more flexible system.”

How did the SAF prepare for the change?

MINDEF first raised the idea of reviewing the MCS in 2021. Then Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said the system was “outdated and retrogressive” for roles in the next-generation SAF, and made little sense when applied to roles such as that of unmanned vessel operator.

Announcing the changes on April 13, current Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing said the refresh had taken more than five years to implement as it had been a “deliberate process”, with the SAF wanting to be assured that the safety of enlistees and NSmen would continue to be prioritised.

The process included mapping out physical requirements for the different vocations, and conducting tests and pilot trials which provided confidence that the functional assessment of servicemen’s abilities had become more precise, he added.

The consultation involved not only personnel within the SAF, but also external specialists and consultants, including physiotherapists and sports scientists, physicians and surgeons.

Said Mr Chan: “Over the last few years, with the experiences that we have gained, we are now very confident that this system is much more robust.”

Are other places also tweaking their medical classification systems?

Other militaries around the world have taken similar steps to refine their own medical classification systems.

In December 2025, Taiwan raised standards for exemption for its one-year military conscription, including scrapping exemptions for flat feet.

Exemptions based on physical fitness will be limited to those who are severely obese, with a body mass index, or BMI, of 45 or higher, and those with a height of 1.44m or less. In extreme cases, those who have hypertension or other organ diseases may be considered for exemption.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, the new standards will better align recruitment policy with the needs of national defence.

In March 2025, it was reported that the Israel Defense Forces planned to draft soldiers with lower medical profiles into combat service, amid personnel shortages.

This includes expanding the scope of what soldiers with more serious health problems can do in roles in the armoured corps and the border defence corps’ light infantry battalions.

In 2025, the Canadian Armed Forces expanded its scope for recruitment to consider applicants with “any and all conditions” for enrolment, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and asthma.

Expanding from just two groups of applicants – “fit” or “unfit” – a third category was created, called “fit to the task”, where the military would decide if recruits with medical conditions could try out for enrolment.

Those selected would be able to take a nine-week introductory course to the military which would allow them to go through more specialised training in a chosen trade, but still require them to meet the medical requirements of that specific trade.

In 2024, the United Kingdom said people with asthma or severe acne would no longer be banned from joining Britain’s armed forces. Its Defence Secretary said he wanted to scrap “outdated policies” that block people from joining the military, so as to stem a recruitment crisis.

The BBC reported that in the five years before the announcement, medical reasons were the main reason for rejection by the British Army, with a total of 76,187 applicants disqualified on these grounds.