Daily Provision of Meals at 43 Purpose-built Dormitories (PBDs)

The Inter-agency Task Force (ITF) has adopted a comprehensive approach to take care of the well-being of foreign workers living in dormitories. Over the past month, the ITF has deployed more than 170 Forward Assurance and Support Teams (FAST) to support the dormitory operators and residents. FAST personnel look into all aspects of the workers’ well-being, including the availability of food and maintenance of hygiene as well as facilitating their medical care and remittance needs.

PROVISION OF MEALS

The provision of meals every day to the 43 PBDs is running smoothly.

• Over 10 million meals have been served.
• Special meal runs have been organised for residents observing Ramadan.
• Meal delivery timings have improved, with meals served between 30 minutes to an hour after they arrive at the PBDs.

Feedback on food quality and quantity also continues to improve:

• We have been working closely with dormitory operators and caterers to fine-tune the operational details for the entire process, from when the food is dispatched from the caterer’s kitchen, to how the meals are effectively distributed across individual dormitories and workers.
• We have been conducting taste tests with different groups of workers to ensure that the food suited their tastes, as the workers come from different countries.
• We also arrange visits by the chefs to engage the workers and better understand their preferences.

A repository of meals served at the PBDs can be found here: go.gov.sg/pbdmeals

Whole-of-government resources have been mobilised to provide comprehensive support to our migrant worker population. We are making steady progress. Most importantly, the workers are getting the care and support they need. We will continue to put the worker’s well-being first as we adjust to the evolving COVID-19 situation.