Guidelines

You may be eligible for compensation if you sustained a service injury while performing your Operationally Ready National Service (ORNS) duties.

An injury is considered to be a service injury if it was: 

• Sustained in consequence of some act lawfully performed in the discharge of the serviceman's duties. For example, an injury sustained during training
• Sustained whilst on a journey necessary to enable the serviceman's to report for duty or to return home after duty. For example, an injury sustained while travelling straight from home to camp or vice versa

If your injury fulfils any of these criteria, you may be eligible to claim for compensation under either of the following 2 compensation schemes:

1. Compensation for loss of income due to medical/hospitalisation leave or assignment of light duties, due to service injury.

   You may be eligible for compensation if you:

   • Remain on medical/hospitalisation leave or placed on light duties after the  In-Camp Training (ICT) due to your service injury, and;
   • Are certified by your employer that you are either (i) not receiving any salary for the period of your medical/hospitalisation leave, or (ii) receiving a lower salary due to assignment of light duties, for your service injury.

   If you fulfil the above 2 conditions, you need to provide a letter from your employer to inform MINDEF about your situation and the amount that is to be reimbursed, together with relevant supporting documents.

   This compensation will be paid in a stepdown approach, for up to two years for medical/hospitalisation leave, or one year for light duties, based on your civilian pay or an equivalent pay of a regular serviceman, whichever is higher.

   For compensation of loss of income due to medical/hospitalisation leave, payments are capped at two years from the end of the call-up during which the injury was sustained. Payments will cease upon termination of your medical or hospitalisation leave, or once disability compensation is paid out (if the disability compensation is paid in the second year following the end of the call-up).

   For loss of income due to assignment of light duties, payments are capped at one year from the end of the call-up during which the injury was sustained, or $33,000, whichever is reached first. Payments will cease upon termination of light duties.

2. Award of disability compensation due to service injury

    

   To claim for an award of disability compensation, you will need to:

   • Be certified by your attending doctor that your service injury has stabilised
   • Request for a review by your unit’s Medical Officer (MO)
   • Complete an authorisation form to allow MINDEF to obtain a Disability Assessment Report (DAR) from your attending doctor on your service injury. The hospital will typically take 3 to 4 months to send the DAR back
   • When you receive the DAR with no further query, you will be scheduled to attend a Permanent Disability (PD) Board by the Military Medicine Institute (MMI)
   • When you receive the endorsement and approval from the PD Board, MINDEF/SAF will then process your disability compensation