NEEDY patients with chronic illnesses can now get jobs through medical social workers.

A team of nine medical social workers from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), the National Cancer Centre, National Heart Centre and Singapore National Eye Centre - will refer such patients to the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC), which then matches them with willing employers.

A survey of 300 patients last December found that 84 per cent wanted to work, and half expected to be paid no more than $1,000.

Yet, despite their willingness to work and their modest pay expectations, many have trouble landing jobs because of their illnesses. Without jobs, they rely on Medifund aid to pay their medical bills.

Medical social worker BharatiManogaran of SGH said: 'Our idea is to decrease their dependency on Medifund and help them be self-reliant.'

The group's project, which began in February, was made public yesterday to mark Social Workers' Day.

To encourage employers to hire the patients, the Central CDC lets them take on these patients on a 'work trial' of five to seven days, so employers and patients can check for job fit. The CDC bears the patients' salary and training costs during the trial.

The project has helped MsSalfura Alias, 26, who landed a job as a customer service agent with KFC after three years of fruitless job-hunting.

Said the diploma holder who has just had a kidney transplant: 'I couldn't believe it when I got the job.'