Senior civil servant from MOH steps down ahead of GE2025

Ms Jasmin Lau, deputy secretary (policy) at the Ministry of Health (MOH), has retired from the civil service, fuelling speculation that she may enter politics at the upcoming general election.

- Goh Yan Han and Ng Wei Kai

An e-mail circular sent earlier this week seen by The Straits Times said Ms Lau will leave the administrative service on April 1.

The administrative service is the highest tier of Singapore's civil service, comprising its leaders.

Ms Lau, 42, has spent much of her career in healthcare.

She served in MOH from 2013 to 2019, looking at healthcare finance and overseeing the development and regulation of medical and long-term care insurance in Singapore.

It was during this period that the ministry launched MediShield Life, a basic national health insurance scheme for large medical bills.

She returned to the ministry in November 2021 after a stint at the Economic Development Board (EDB).

Ms Lau oversees manpower, financing and regulatory measures in the healthcare system. As a deputy secretary, she is among the highest-ranked civil servants in her ministry.

Other projects she has overseen at MOH include the Healthier SG White Paper in 2022, which places the focus on preventive care, rather than the traditional hospital-based approach to illness.