How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

How much GP earn per month after expenses? Rent, employee salary, etc

Originally Posted by Unregistered

very nice, will take ur advice. Funny thing is all the local med students are so proud and happy right until the day they graduate. After they start work and realise that the number of local residency positions is so few that 70-75 percentage don’t get into any specialty training and that they have 5 more years of the bond left, reality starts to dawn on them that it might not have been the best choice after all

Just look at residency list on MOHH website and DM those successfully matched docs on LinkedIn

Ask them how long they took to get into residency. Ask them what’s the process like. Ask them whether it’s worth it. Most will be honest enough to tell you that it took 3/4 years which makes sense for local grad because of their bond (they have to stay in PHI either way). But doesn’t make sense for IMGs because the world is literally your oyster. You don’t need to confine yourself to this.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How much GP earn per month after expenses? Rent, employee salary, etc

Ranges from as low as 18k a month to as high as 60k a month. But u have to work 2X the hours compared to your specialists friends. Higher earners usually partners of multiple clinics/have a very busy clinic with long hours Monday-Sunday no rest.

Hard life GP but that’s the price u paid for not specialising.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just look at residency list on MOHH website and DM those successfully matched docs on LinkedIn

Ask them how long they took to get into residency. Ask them what’s the process like. Ask them whether it’s worth it. Most will be honest enough to tell you that it took 3/4 years which makes sense for local grad because of their bond (they have to stay in PHI either way). But doesn’t make sense for IMGs because the world is literally your oyster. You don’t need to confine yourself to this.

There seem to be a lot of those from UK medical schools proportion wise who have successfully got in. Seems like 2-4 years is the amount of time required in general. Now that is okay. Getting into residency in 3 years is okay and actually would set you up for future success but those are the winners. A much larger number of candidates don’t get in and are simply stuck. If u think u can get in it’s worth if not it dosent make sense to return to sg immediately unless for GP or aesthetics

Originally Posted by Unregistered

very nice, will take ur advice. Funny thing is all the local med students are so proud and happy right until the day they graduate. After they start work and realise that the number of local residency positions is so few that 70-75 percentage don’t get into any specialty training and that they have 5 more years of the bond left, reality starts to dawn on them that it might not have been the best choice after all

?? U sound like some jealous overseas student.
Local students quite realistic.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

?? U sound like some jealous overseas student.
Local students quite realistic.

not jealous at all. Brother is a local student just relaying his feelings. I have access to the same opportunities and more what do i have to be jealous about

Originally Posted by Unregistered

?? U sound like some jealous overseas student.
Local students quite realistic.

Must be painful knowing being a GP is most likely the only option

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There seem to be a lot of those from UK medical schools proportion wise who have successfully got in. Seems like 2-4 years is the amount of time required in general. Now that is okay. Getting into residency in 3 years is okay and actually would set you up for future success but those are the winners. A much larger number of candidates don’t get in and are simply stuck. If u think u can get in it’s worth if not it dosent make sense to return to sg immediately unless for GP or aesthetics

Spending 2 or 3 extra years as an MO just to get into residency sounds like a bad deal


I would rather spend 2 years preparing for usmle at home like the Indian imgs on .

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Spending 2 or 3 extra years as an MO just to get into residency sounds like a bad deal


I would rather spend 2 years preparing for usmle at home like the Indian imgs on .

if miss family only got one choice tbh

Originally Posted by Unregistered

GP is not worth it. Aesthetics is great but too saturated today unfortunately. I am the psych guy from UK and in all honesty I will recommend all Singaporeans in the Uk to do training before they return to SG.

Main reason is because work conditions are way better in the UK and it’s easier to get into training because all the metrics are clearly listed.

My friends who returned to SG are doing very very poor. Out of the 10 who chose to return.. 8 are working as GPs. Many of them tried to dabble in aesthetics but are not good enough and got sacked by the clinic.. they are now in their mid 30s and obviously regretted their initial path but nothing they can do now but to deal with it (life as a GP)

There’s 2 who were lucky to get into residency in SG (IM residency) but they are now stuck in the advanced stage because they want to get into advanced spec like GI/cards but those specialities are too competitive to get into. They now have to either wait and reapply every cycle (which they are doing), or exit as an IM generalist which is useless in private sector, or opt for a non lucrative spec like geriatrics.

End outcome is that they are not happy and overworked and seriously can u believe it.. most are still single.

Meanwhile I only have a year left in my training and I am happy and living a balanced life.. already engaged to a Korean pharmacist girl , and will relocate back to SG after CCT

As a local grad, it honestly doesn't really matter. In the past maybe UK was not so hard to get in training. Now, If you look at the competition ratios in UK, they are increasing every year due to lots of applications from internationals. The USMLE route is also tough, and good luck if you want to get into those competitive specialties. I would say ultimately its difficult to get into training these days whether in SG, UK, US, Aus.... In SG you can get in eventually if you MOPEX a couple of years. But many don't want to waste years of uncertainty and just get on with life, so go GP land, locum, aesthetics and can also be relatively comfortable.


And come on now, 'lucky' to get into IM? IM is not at all hard to get into, many match into it straight out of housemanship. Many people don't want to go into IM due to tough reg years and uncertainty of SR. If you are open to taking up any SR available, then IM is fine actually.