Mr Heng Swee Keat, who is recuperating at home after suffering a stroke in May, will resume his duties as Finance Minister, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
In his National Day Rally speech, Mr Lee said that doctors have recommended that Mr Heng avoid contact with crowds for at least a few more months, to minimise the risk of infection.
He said: “So he can’t do his his usual community and grassroots work for a while longer but they have given him the go-ahead to do office work, with minimum interaction.”
Mr Lee said that Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratman will stop covering for him as Acting Minister.
Mr Lee also announced that he has appointed Minister for National Development Mr Lawrence Wong as Second Minister for Finance to help Mr Heng with operational responsibilities at his ministry before he progressively returns to work.
Meanwhile, Mr Heng will focus on next year’s Budget and on the Committee on the Future Economy, which develops economic strategies to position Singapore well for the future.
“For the past few months, we have been able to continue all the different things Swee Keat was doing, by redistributing his heavy load to others,” said Mr Lee.
“Still my colleagues and I have felt the temporary loss of an able and valuable colleague.”
Mr Heng collapsed during a Cabinet meeting on May 12 from a stroke due to an aneurysm, a localised weakening of a blood vessel. He underwent a successful operation to seal off the aneurysm on the same day of the stroke and was discharged from hospital on June 25.
Speaking shortly after returning to the stage after being taken ill himself, Mr Lee said: “Minister or not, all of us are mortal.
“Heng Swee Keat recently gave us a bad scare. Worse than what I gave you today. Much worse.”
Mr Lee added that the Singapore Civil Defence Force team who responded to the emergency call when Mr Heng collapsed, was in the audience as he spoke, and attended to him offstage.
“I should say ‘thank you’ to them because I invited them as guests and they came to treat me just now,” he quipped.
sujint@sph.com.sg
