Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Ong Ye Kung officiated at the launch of the National Paramedic Training and Education roadmap this afternoon at the Headquarters of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Corps in Nee Soon Camp. In line with the national SkillsFuture movement, the roadmap - a multi-agency effort led by the SAF and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), and supported by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency - charts out the multiple pathways for paramedics to deepen industry-relevant skills and knowledge, and pursue professional upgrading regardless of their starting points.

New training and education programmes developed and launched under the roadmap include an enhanced emergency medical specialist course by the SAF as well as new diploma programmes in paramedicine. A Minor programme in Paramedicine and Emergency Response offered with the Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from SIM University (UniSIM) was launched in July 2015 as one of the new programmes in the roadmap. Together with the launch of the roadmap, six institutions - the SAF, SCDF, Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), UniSIM and the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) - also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cement the collaboration between employers of paramedics and education institutions to encourage skills mastery in the field.

Speaking at the event, Mr Ong highlighted that the roadmap and the enhancements made to paramedic training will raise professional standards and provide paramedics an enhanced pathway to develop their professional skills at the degree level. He said, "There is a big push now within the SAF to allow the skills that you learn while you are serving to be certifiable so that it is useful to you throughout your lives. This also enhances the value of NS. So for paramedics, this is now possible by enhancing existing courses, by introducing new courses and creating a vocational pathway that goes all the way now to a degree qualification."

The SAF's Chief of the Medical Corps COL (Dr) Tang Kong Choong similarly affirmed the value of roadmap to the SAF. He said, "Paramedics are our first responders in providing emergency medical and health care, and play a crucial role in the SAF's operations. They are also teachers and mentors for our medics who provide frontline medical support for the SAF. Their professional development is a key priority for the SAF. We are delighted to be able to establish a long-term, professional programme which strengthens the competencies of our paramedics to better equip them with the medical knowledge and practical skills to support the SAF's wide range of operations."

On the close partnership between the SAF and the SCDF, the SCDF's Chief Medical Officer COL (Dr) Ng Yih Yng said, "The SCDF welcomes the launch of this roadmap with the SAF as it will enhance the paramedic profession in Singapore and promote lifelong learning. This educational roadmap creates a flexible career track that provides many entry points for our SCDF paramedics to master life-saving skills in fulfilling their passion to help others."

Paramedic training was first established in Singapore in 1996 when the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs collaborated with the Paramedic Academy of JIBC to introduce paramedic training in Singapore. Since then, the SAF Medical Training Institute has been training operational paramedics for both the SAF and SCDF to support a wide range of operations from daily dispatch and ambulance calls to mass casualty scenarios and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations. With the launch of the roadmap, paramedic training has advanced from on-the-job training and vocational certification to diploma and degree-level programmes. Together, these help to deepen the mastery of paramedic skills and knowledge in Singapore.

Close to 100 career paramedics from the SAF, SCDF and private ambulance operators, private ambulance companies as well as pioneers of paramedic training were present to witness this milestone in local paramedic training.