How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Yes got to agree Singapore has all the best of the best awards, but there is no soul in the country. People are not happy. Most people live in government subsidised housing, and repayments are extracted from their future pension funds. Recreation is shopping in the malls and eating at a different place every day. Society is classed according to your birth background, example Western Caucasian people experience a better lifestyle, people look up to them, they are welcome in Singapore. However people from Bangladesh etc for example are looked down on, and considered to be using the resources of the locals, trains and housing for example. All in all it is nice to stay in a safe and modern city, but there is not much to do here, except earn a living...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

pls give some opinion on
1)getting a residency placement in surgery in singapore after passing my mrcs and completing my housemanship in malaysia?
2)can i sit for frcs in singapore?
3) should i skip my hosuemanship in malaysia and directly go to singapore to be a houseman and proceed on with a residency placement in general surgery or pediatrics?
how hard to get a placement in residency programme?

Since you appear to have a choice to skip housemanship in Malaysia, you should consider housemanship in Singapore assuming your primary qualification is recognised by SMC.

Hi ,

I have completed my MD in Radiology from India in 2007 and working in a Tertiary care Hospital for the past 9 years . It is a public hospital where i am currently on the post of Associate Professor .

I wish to relocate to Singapore , may be permanently . I read the whole blog from 2009 till the last post ( took me 4 hours to read all ) and i have mixed feelings about it now.

Can someone tell me if I will get a Consultants post in Singapore . I am used to working long hours . Currently also , my work hours extend more than 14 hours per day as a radiologist.

I report approximately 20 CT scans and 20 MRI scans in a full working day and i barely find the time to leave my reporting console for much time.

What is the expected salary of a Radiologist in say SGH ? and how many work hours in a day ? How many leaves am i entitled to ?

What are the monthly compulsory expenses in singapore ?

1. House rent in a decent place
2. Health Insurance
3. Food
4. Cell Phone / Electricity bills
5. Child education fees
6. Entertainment : Movies / Clubs / Drinks ( I know that there are heavy taxes on alcohol )
7. Indemnity Insurance
8. Clothing
9. Any others which i may not be aware of.......

Any help would be highly appreciated .

Originally Posted by Jack Fruit

Hi ,

I have completed my MD in Radiology from India in 2007 and working in a Tertiary care Hospital for the past 9 years . It is a public hospital where i am currently on the post of Associate Professor .

I wish to relocate to Singapore , may be permanently . I read the whole blog from 2009 till the last post ( took me 4 hours to read all ) and i have mixed feelings about it now.

Can someone tell me if I will get a Consultants post in Singapore . I am used to working long hours . Currently also , my work hours extend more than 14 hours per day as a radiologist.

I report approximately 20 CT scans and 20 MRI scans in a full working day and i barely find the time to leave my reporting console for much time.

What is the expected salary of a Radiologist in say SGH ? and how many work hours in a day ? How many leaves am i entitled to ?

What are the monthly compulsory expenses in singapore ?

1. House rent in a decent place
2. Health Insurance
3. Food
4. Cell Phone / Electricity bills
5. Child education fees
6. Entertainment : Movies / Clubs / Drinks ( I know that there are heavy taxes on alcohol )
7. Indemnity Insurance
8. Clothing
9. Any others which i may not be aware of.......

Any help would be highly appreciated .

I'm not in the medical industry but I can advise you on some of the expenses you wish to know about.

1) It depends if you wish to rent a single room in a flat, or a whole flat. Rental for a room in a HDB (government) flat around the vicinity of SGH (up to 2KM) is around $800. For a 3 bedroom flat, it can go up to $2800.

2) I believe your health and medical insurance will be covered by SGH as part of your employee benefits.

3) Depending on what you eat, SGH has staff canteen that offers food at a discount. I'm guessing $10-$12 to cover all 3 meals in a work day if you don't eat fancy food.

4) Cell phone bills $20. Utilities will depend on the type of accommodation you are renting.

5) Depends on how old is your child. This will be expensive for foreign children.

6) No clue on what your expected lifestyle and entertainment is, but movies here cost $10 per ticket, a mug of beer at a pub cost around $6.

7) No idea

8) There are very cheap options available at Little India and Geylang.

[gammahedging]

Originally Posted by Jack Fruit

Hi ,

I have completed my MD in Radiology from India in 2007 and working in a Tertiary care Hospital for the past 9 years . It is a public hospital where i am currently on the post of Associate Professor .

I wish to relocate to Singapore , may be permanently . I read the whole blog from 2009 till the last post ( took me 4 hours to read all ) and i have mixed feelings about it now.

Can someone tell me if I will get a Consultants post in Singapore . I am used to working long hours . Currently also , my work hours extend more than 14 hours per day as a radiologist.

I report approximately 20 CT scans and 20 MRI scans in a full working day and i barely find the time to leave my reporting console for much time.

What is the expected salary of a Radiologist in say SGH ? and how many work hours in a day ? How many leaves am i entitled to ?

What are the monthly compulsory expenses in singapore ?

1. House rent in a decent place
2. Health Insurance
3. Food
4. Cell Phone / Electricity bills
5. Child education fees
6. Entertainment : Movies / Clubs / Drinks ( I know that there are heavy taxes on alcohol )
7. Indemnity Insurance
8. Clothing
9. Any others which i may not be aware of.......

Any help would be highly appreciated .

International Medical Graduates | SMC

this may be of help to you. MOH is very strict about the selection of doctors from overseas. And to put things into perspective, some of the most brilliant peeps are about Senior Registrar / Associate Consultant @ about 8 years post graduation from NUS' medical school

[Michelle_B]

Hi all,

I'm currently completing my core medical training in the UK. I am looking to move to Singapore in the next year and am currently applying for an employment post with the MOH. I understand that only after securing said post will I be considered for application to a residency programme.

Does anyone know what I can expect to be asked in this interview? I've just been told in very broad terms that I can expect some form of clinically related discussions and the interview will last 15-20 minutes.

Having never worked in Singapore previously but having considerable medical experience (in that I will have completed the equivalent to junior residency in internal medicine in the UK on application and have already completed MRCP UK) what is the likelihood of me actually being matched to a residency programme? I've heard it is not common for foreign doctors to be matched to a programme without a letter of recommendation from doctors within Singapore. Is this true?

My reasons for moving to Singapore are multifold and mostly involve decisions around my husband's employment (he is NOT a medic!) and quality of life. Having read this thread I'm becoming increasingly nervous at the move! Anyone out there with positive things to say about life as a junior doctor in Singapore?

(If I do gain the post of resident in internal medicine) What can I expect a typical day of work to be like? Despite long hours, do people feel they come out the other end a better doctor? I'm not workshy and the hospital I currently work in is one of the busiest in London. Working hard does not put me off, but I would like to feel like I'm actually learning something whilst doing it!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

foreign graduate should think 1000 times before coming;sounds good working in singapore but no future scope.policy is to take maximum possible work from them without making them skilled.No carrier development,always biased that singaporean doctors are the best,any one may be trained in best of the institute but their wonderland their institute is the best.working like frog in well which think this well is the world.place is very costly and you end up spending more than 60% of salary saving potential is very low.there is no work life balance for junior doctors.Resident physician, clinical associate, registrar,research fellow,fellow and MO is same for them;all of them do the same job of MO.There is no respect for doctor among public,for them i am paying you see me at 1 AM in night.Except training positions doctors are not trained or promoted by hospital,they are made to work like slave.doing duty more than 24 hours is it not inhuman in normal circumstance.still they make you do duty more than 24 hours and no off after that.
If you are not in dire need for job pls do not go to singapore;all your dream will be shattered when you start working there.still if you do not agree experience your self and do not blame reviewer that they did not warn earlier.

agreed. too many doctors in singapore and they are clamping down. the situation is not rosy at all. they let in too many overseas docs and some are just crap and this has resulted in lots of lawsuits. read the straits times and you get reports of dubious doctors who fake thier research and git caught a few months ago. heard all doctors are being scrutinised very closely as they even caught a few bogus ones last few years. google search and you know what i mean.

Originally Posted by Michelle_B

Hi all,

I'm currently completing my core medical training in the UK. I am looking to move to Singapore in the next year and am currently applying for an employment post with the MOH. I understand that only after securing said post will I be considered for application to a residency programme.

Does anyone know what I can expect to be asked in this interview? I've just been told in very broad terms that I can expect some form of clinically related discussions and the interview will last 15-20 minutes.

Having never worked in Singapore previously but having considerable medical experience (in that I will have completed the equivalent to junior residency in internal medicine in the UK on application and have already completed MRCP UK) what is the likelihood of me actually being matched to a residency programme? I've heard it is not common for foreign doctors to be matched to a programme without a letter of recommendation from doctors within Singapore. Is this true?

My reasons for moving to Singapore are multifold and mostly involve decisions around my husband's employment (he is NOT a medic!) and quality of life. Having read this thread I'm becoming increasingly nervous at the move! Anyone out there with positive things to say about life as a junior doctor in Singapore?

(If I do gain the post of resident in internal medicine) What can I expect a typical day of work to be like? Despite long hours, do people feel they come out the other end a better doctor? I'm not workshy and the hospital I currently work in is one of the busiest in London. Working hard does not put me off, but I would like to feel like I'm actually learning something whilst doing it!

Thanks!

you will get pass the interview... almost every tom,dick and harry does because Singapore desperately need doctors here hence reports of third-world countries drs getting in easily with fake degrees. however, if you are trained in the west you will not get used to working life here as there is no work life balance, no matter how busy your previous london hospital may be... there is much to be said that more than half of the locals who studied in Australia/US/UK(to some extent given the lower pay) never return to Singapore to work, or return back to their country of study after working a period of time and realising what they are in for, forcing MOH to hire third-world countries drs who will never be qualified to work in the developed countries (US/UK/Aust) to pick up the slack...

hello there! i am a young singaporean medical student soon to be graduated from Russia with an MD. i need some enlightenment on how to i apply for housemanship in Singapore, despite knowing that SMC does not recognise my university, but can i at least sit for a conversion exam of some sort? is it possible?

thank you in advance

I happened to come across this article:

://doctorxdentist.com/10-myths-doctors-singapore/

"As a doctor in a public hospital, a Medical Officer’s take home pay is approximately $4000 – $5000, and this will last for as long as you decide not to specialise. I know of friends who’ve been doctors for 8+ years earning this same amount.

Even if you take the fastest route to becoming a specialist, it takes a minimum of 10 years to earn $10,000:
1 year as a House Officer: $3000
3 years as a Medical Officer: $4000 – $5000 (variable depending on number of calls)
4 years as a Registrar – $6000: $7000
2 year as an Associate Consultant: $9000
Consultant: $10,000 +

Training spots can be very competitive, so you may get stuck at each step of the way for a couple more years. Furthermore, the majority of doctors never specialise, hence continue to earn a Medical Officer pay for as long as they stay in the public sector. Oft repeated, but being a doctor in Singapore is not one career to get rich quick."

Is this true? based on what the author says, as of Aug 2016, Singapore has 13,000 doctors.. of which:
1) 34% work in Private & 66% work in Public
2) 35% are Specialists (earns >$6000 after 5 years, assuming on the fastest track)
3) 65% are Non-specialists (earns $4000-$5000, for as long as they do not specialize)