Doctors' pay

[vampirez]

Originally Posted by Slave of medicine

I think most of you have been masked from the reality. I’m a foreign grad and came to singapore as a MO. I totally aware of the issue of overworked and underpaid!!

Well, probably this article above is true if u are working for private sector, or a specialist. But in general, the medical sector in singapore is like a field of slavery. How many percent of us actually made it through to become a registrar/consultant? even if u made it, how many of u can get into the private sector?

Why concern on the total amount that you earn p.a? why not look at how many hours you work per week and count your pay per hour?? Believe it or not, our pay per hour is probably lesser than a nurses’ pay per hour.

How many of you who want to do medicine, full of enthusiasm, thinking that u might make big money out of medicine actually and realise how hard a medical doctor has to work? perhaps a lot of us are/were just way too naive…

Do you know what is on call? do you know how long does a call last for? and how much do u get out of a call??
The definition of ON CALL:
Start working from 7am - 5pm (your daily working hours), then continue from 5pm - 7am the next day (ON CALL); subsequently continue to work like any other day from 7am - 12pm…then you can go home if your colleague is around to cover your daily routine. Please count the number of hours that u have to work non-stop. You think you can take a nap at night when u are ON CALL? forget it!! And working for 30++ hours will give you how much in return??? SGD 110-130 (for HO) and SGD 240-340 (for MO)

Do you think this is physiological? Do you think this is safe for patients or your own health?
Do you think with a basic salary + call pay (taxable) that gives u SGD about 3800-4500 per month (before tax) is worth you spending millions to get the medical degree and work like a donkey for the next 10-20 years? How long do you have to work in order to pay back the amount that you’ve spent on your degree??

If you want to work as a doctor but VERY concern about your pay and increment, i suppose you are not suitable to be in the medical profession. Ask around and find out what is it like to be a doctor before you get yourself into the puddle of mud. If you ask me how many medical doctors actually regret of being a doctor.. i would say more than 80% of us DO regret of being one… not becoz the pay is low. Our welfare and wellbeing is just being ignored by the authority. Doctor is a very nobel profession, however it is also a very inhumane profession that will cause us more harm than good… we are human after all, we are not an immortal.. Even a domestic servant will get to have their meals, toilet breaks and adequate rest on a daily basis!! these are basic human needs!! So what are we??? we are slaves!!!!!

WOW, so this things not only happened our region. so where does the save place for us to avoid slavery ... zzz

doctors job just like a 2 coin. one for patient and the other for our self. how we can make that balance ?

Having a quota in NUS helps doctors who have graduated. Although, it is often said that we have a lack of doctors in Singapore, NUS is still having this quota... so weird.

Why don't we have quotas for Engineering graduates?

We should definitely mass import foreign doctors into Singapore. We need alot of them. Competition is always good as it will keep the cost of seeing a doctor down.

If you are a elite JC student (RJC/HCJC), don't become a doctor if you are interested in money. The highest-ranking senior doctors max out at $20k only. Given your intelligence, you can make that pittance (not counting high banking bonuses) in the finance industry within a few years of graduation. My rejection from NUS med school a decade ago was a blessing in disguise.

Be smart. Get a finance/banking degree (or to a lesser extent law degree). Screw med school.

Originally Posted by TopIBanker

If you are a elite JC student (RJC/HCJC), don't become a doctor if you are interested in money. The highest-ranking senior doctors max out at $20k only. Given your intelligence, you can make that pittance (not counting high banking bonuses) in the finance industry within a few years of graduation. My rejection from NUS med school a decade ago was a blessing in disguise.

Be smart. Get a finance/banking degree (or to a lesser extent law degree). Screw med school.

This statement is not supported by fact. Medicine remains the most lucrative career time-wise and probability-wise. Banking careers have comparatively much shorter life-span and lower probability of hitting pay dirt.

"09 December 10 The Strait Times
by Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent

Public hospitals lose more specialists

SINGAPORE is facing possibly its largest-ever exodus of specialist doctors from the public to the private sector, as the robust economy gives them the courage to leave secure jobs.

In the first half of this year, 68 specialists left the public sector, compared with 63 the whole of last year.

Among them were five cancer specialists, seven general surgeons, seven orthopaedic surgeons and seven diagnostic radiologists.

If this trend continues for the rest of the year, it will be the biggest outflow of specialists the public sector has ever seen. The previous high was a loss of 87 specialists in 2007. The Health Ministry could not provide more up-to-date figures for this year.

Industry observers say doctors are feeling confident enough to leave their safe jobs for private practice because of the booming economy.

A highly successful specialist in private practice can make up to 10 times what he was drawing in the public sector. These top doctors earn more than $1 million a year, with some reputed to rake in more than $5 million.

In the public sector, consultants earn between $12,000 and $60,000 a month, based on their seniority and specialty."

"The Straits Times
Sep 3, 2010
Eye doctor faces tax evasion
By Elena Chong

A CONSULTANT eye surgeon was charged in court on Friday with tax evasion by under-declaring income totalling about $450,000 from her business for three years.

Currie Chiang, 54, owner of International Eye Clinic at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, is said to have, wilfully with intent to evade tax, prepared false records of IEC's trade income for the Years of Assessment 2006 to 2008.

The petite ophthalmologist, a graduate of the former University of Singapore in 1980, allegedly stated that her income for 2006 was $998,107 when it was $999,197.

For 2007, she allegedly gave her trade income as $733,982 when it was $882,483; and for 2008, allegedly stated that it was $391,749 instead of $691,494.

Chiang's case was adjourned to Oct 15 for her lawyer KhattarWong to make representations and take instructions.

She is the third doctor to have been brought to court for tax evasion so far.

Bail of $50,000 was offered. Her passport was impounded.

If convicted, she faces a fine of up to $50,000 and/or a jail term of up to five years. She also has to pay a penalty of four times the amount of tax undercharged."

[sachinok]

hi guys,
great discussion going on here.
i have a quary here. if some expert or knowledgable person can answer it i would be gratefull to him.
i have recently got offer from one of the hospital from singapore as my college is from the recognised colleges by smc. but they said that they can offer me only junioe level job (not even registar). but surprisingly they are offering me s$8000 per month. from reading posts above i understsnd that if the position is of junior lvel than registar then my salary would have been somewhere around $3500. can someone explain it?
also they have said that i will have to work in wards. i can go to OTs to see the surgeries but can not assist it. is it true? is really that hard and fast? i mean if i have good relation with my colleuges and HOD can they allow me to assist?
also they said that they can not take me as registar as only MRCS holder is eligible for it. is it true?
if i accept the offer i will be moving with my wife. she has basic medical degree which is not from recognised medical college by smc. can she work there as a GP or anything..just because she doesnt have to sit at home doing nothing?
plz plz advise me about these things. i need to reply to their offer soon.
thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by sachinok

hi guys,
great discussion going on here.
i have a quary here. if some expert or knowledgable person can answer it i would be gratefull to him.
i have recently got offer from one of the hospital from singapore as my college is from the recognised colleges by smc. but they said that they can offer me only junioe level job (not even registar). but surprisingly they are offering me s$8000 per month. from reading posts above i understsnd that if the position is of junior lvel than registar then my salary would have been somewhere around $3500. can someone explain it?
also they have said that i will have to work in wards. i can go to OTs to see the surgeries but can not assist it. is it true? is really that hard and fast? i mean if i have good relation with my colleuges and HOD can they allow me to assist?
also they said that they can not take me as registar as only MRCS holder is eligible for it. is it true?
if i accept the offer i will be moving with my wife. she has basic medical degree which is not from recognised medical college by smc. can she work there as a GP or anything..just because she doesnt have to sit at home doing nothing?
plz plz advise me about these things. i need to reply to their offer soon.
thanks in advance.

I need more details of the offer and your post-grad experience. Yes its true that a foreign MO usually gets ~$3.5k but pay varies dependent on post-grad experience and seniority. Your wife could look into big pharma or ASTAR/Duke-NUS.

[sachinok]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I need more details of the offer and your post-grad experience. Yes its true that a foreign MO usually gets ~$3.5k but pay varies dependent on post-grad experience and seniority. Your wife could look into big pharma or ASTAR/Duke-NUS.

thanks for your reply. I have done DNB orthopaedics and has 2yrs of experience. i have also done D'ortho (CPS) which is recognised by state medical council but not by MCI. if we count expeience after diploma then it is 5 yrs. my last year experience is of consultant while remaining is of registrar. Can you shed more light now?
also do they sometime accept doctors from other medical colleges (from unrecognised colleges by SMC) if they have shortage or something like that?

Hey guys I'm a singaporean med student studying in the uk. There's this scheme by moh which they can give u an allowance to pay off some of ur tuition fees and you will have to serve houseman in s'pore and bonded for 2-3 years. Would you advise me to take up this offer? Will locals graduates from foreign med schs be disadvantaged in any way compared to nus grads? Thanks a lot!