Hospitalisation Leave in Singapore: MOM Rules, Entitlement & Full Guide (2026 Update)

What Is Hospitalisation Leave in Singapore?

Simply put, hospitalisation leave is intended to cover the period that a hospital doctor deems an employee requires hospital-level care, either through being warded or needing significant rest and medical treatment.

Eligibility

An employee is entitled to both paid outpatient sick leave and paid hospitalisation leave if they meet the following conditions:

• Covered under the Employment Act.
• Has served the employer for at least 3 months.
• Has informed or tried to inform their employer within 48 hours of their absence.

Paid Outpatient Sick Leave

To qualify, an employee must be certified as unfit for work by a medical practitioner registered under the Medical Registration Act or Dental Registration Act.

Paid Hospitalisation Leave

Paid hospitalisation leave is not a mere extension of Paid Outpatient Sick Leave. To qualify for the hospitalisation leave entitlement, the employee must be:

• Warded in a hospital as an in-patient or for day surgery.
• Quarantined under any written law.
• Certified to require hospitalisation, further rest, or medical treatment after discharge by a medical practitioner who can admit patients into hospitals (this includes medical practitioners from national specialty centres and ambulatory surgical centres).

Note: Hospitals refer to all public, private, or community hospitals in Singapore or approved overseas medical institutions.

If there is any uncertainty regarding the issuing medical practitioner’s authority, HR should seek clarification directly from the clinic or hospital.

Cosmetic Procedures

Employers are not required under the Employment Act to grant paid sick leave or cover medical consultation fees for purely cosmetic procedures.

The medical practitioner performing the examination will ultimately decide if a procedure is for medical or cosmetic reasons. However, some company medical benefit policies may cover such procedures.

When Is Hospitalisation Leave Allowed Without Being Ward-Admitted?

While the term suggests being warded, the MOM recognises several scenarios where hospitalisation leave is justified even if the employee is not physically admitted:

• When the employee is not hospitalised but requires bed rest equivalent to inpatient care, such as for severe or pregnancy-related complications.
• When the employee requires extended rest or further medical treatment for a condition after their discharge from the hospital to fully recover.
• Specific circumstances, such as Quarantine Orders issued as required by law (e.g., during infectious disease outbreaks), may also qualify employees for hospitalisation leave.

Hospitalisation Leave Entitlement in Singapore (Sick Leave + HL Breakdown)

The number of paid sick leave days an employee is entitled to depends on their period of service, up to a maximum of 14 days for paid outpatient sick leave and 60 days for paid hospitalisation leave.

The 60 days of paid hospitalisation leave includes the 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave entitlement. Employees who have worked for 6 months or more receive the full annual entitlement.

Does Hospitalisation Leave Include Weekends & Public Holidays?

According to MOM regulations, hospitalisation leave should only be deducted for actual working days.

Hospitalisation leave is only subtracted from the employee's quota on days they were originally scheduled to report for work. It excludes rest days and public holidays.

For Example:

If an employee is granted 10 days of hospitalisation leave, but that period spans across 1 rest day and 1 public holiday you should only deduct 8 days from their leave balance.

Keep in mind that this is strictly dependent on the specific contract of service.

For employees on shift cycles or irregular schedules, a Saturday or Sunday may be a standard working day. In these cases, those days would be deducted from their hospitalisation leave quota.

Always cross-reference the medical certificate (MC) dates against the employee's specific duty roster to ensure an accurate and fair deduction.

Hospitalisation Leave Calculator (How to Calculate Leave Days)

For new hires with less than 6 months of service, paid sick leave must be pro-rated according to their length of service. Their month of service starts from the day they commence employment.

Employees must have worked for at least 3 months to be entitled to any paid sick leave or hospitalisation leave in Singapore. Between 3 and 6 months of service, the entitlement is pro-rated (as shown in the table below).

(Example assumes a start date of 13 February 2025. Any sick leave taken before 13 May 2025 is unpaid.)

Limits on Paid Sick Leave Days

The total amount of paid sick leave, both outpatient and hospitalisation, is capped at the annual entitlement under the Employment Act.

If an employee has already taken the maximum 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave in a year, the maximum number of additional paid hospitalisation leave days they can take is 46 days (60 total days – 14 outpatient days = 46 days).

Can We Terminate an Employee on Hospitalisation Leave?

Employers cannot terminate an employee solely because they are on hospitalisation leave or any other form of sick leave, as sick leave is an entitlement for those covered by the Employment Act.

Termination must be based on relevant and objective criteria such as misconduct or poor work performance unrelated to the medical condition.

While employers should treat sick employees with compassion, there may be rare situations where an employee is assessed to be too ill for the job, and excessive or repeated absence severely impacts the company's work.

In such cases, the employer can terminate the employment after giving due notice or pay in lieu of notice, but the reason must be documented and demonstrably unrelated to the employee simply taking their rightful leave.

Difference Between Sick Leave, Hospitalisation Leave & Compassionate Leave

HR professionals must distinguish between these key types of leave to ensure compliance and employee fairness.

Simplify Hospitalisation Leave Management in Singapore

Navigating the rules for medical leave in Singapore can be complex, especially with keeping track of the annual cap and ensuring MOM compliance. When an employee is away, the last thing you want is a conflict over manual calculations and record-keeping.

QuickHR helps you seamlessly track the total usage of sick leave and hospitalisation leave based on the annual limit.

Our platform automatically factors in weekends and Public Holidays when calculating the period deducted from the 60-day limit, a key detail often missed in manual processes.

Employees can submit leave requests instantly through a secure employee self-service portal via QuickHR Mobile App, which routes them directly to the designated manager for approval on the go.

Both managers and employees can view real-time leave balances, eliminating the need to chase HR for updates.

Leave deductions and payments are automatically integrated with payroll, ensuring your processes align with latest MOM regulations.

Furthermore, Medical Certificates (MCs) are stored securely, making auditing and retrieval a breeze.

If you’re ready to move beyond tedious spreadsheets and manual checks, let us show you how this level of automation can free up your HR team, reduce administrative errors, and enhance efficiency.

Want to streamline your leave processes and ensure MOM compliance? Book a quick, tailored free demo today to see exactly how these solutions can transform your daily HR operations.