There are close to one million work permit holders in Singapore. Access to affordable healthcare can be a problem for low wage migrant workers as foreigners in Singapore do not receive subsidies for healthcare at public institutions. By law, workers are supposed to be covered for both inpatient and outpatient treatment by their employers but not all do. In addition, fear of repatriation and cultural and language barriers also contribute to migrant workers not receiving proper treatment.

The more unfortunate amongst these workers get injured at work and may end up losing their jobs and suffering loss of pay for a protracted period. The wait for their work injury compensation application to be processed and resolved can take months or years.

From a single clinic providing GP services in Geylang to meet the needs of the workers, HealthServe has expanded our range of services to the provision of GP and specialist medical services, rehabilitation and dental services, injury and salary-related casework support, social assistance, counselling and mental health programmes.

We are very much a volunteer-run organisation. Our operations are run by a small staff team and hundreds of medical and non-medical volunteers and interns.