How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Choose to do what you r interested in.

As I am female and don't have stamina to do so many years of night duty required in specialising, I chose family medicine for better work life balance.

Take care of yourself too. After having breast cancer must rest don't think so much about money anymore.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So, better to be specialist or GP??

Definitely specialise. Currently working as first year rad AC making around 280k all-in pa

Spent 7 years in UK post graduation

Tell u something all my friends who returned to sg are in bad shape I mean super bad shape

Most are in GP land making only 220k a year. Seeing so many patients a day.

And the 3 who got into residency.. guess what they are still in residency.. because it took them 3 years post MOPEX to get in..

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Choose to do what you r interested in.

As I am female and don't have stamina to do so many years of night duty required in specialising, I chose family medicine for better work life balance.

Biased opinion. Nights are doable in UK because we usually have the next day off. Usually rota has a max number of nights per month.. my worse rota was in FY2 acute internal med where I had 8 nights in a month.

Shifts don’t last longer than 12 hours here in Uk. Understand in sg it goes beyond 24 h sometimes.

So I feel sad for YLL grads they think they are superior than us who went abroad but at end of day.. they had a tougher medical school life. They had a tougher training life. And lesser odds of being a specialist.

Tell you something my last 7 years in the Uk are relaxing , only the first 2 Fy years a bit tough because of nights.

5 years of rads training is chill hardly any nights at all.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Biased opinion. Nights are doable in UK because we usually have the next day off. Usually rota has a max number of nights per month.. my worse rota was in FY2 acute internal med where I had 8 nights in a month.

Shifts don’t last longer than 12 hours here in Uk. Understand in sg it goes beyond 24 h sometimes.

So I feel sad for YLL grads they think they are superior than us who went abroad but at end of day.. they had a tougher medical school life. They had a tougher training life. And lesser odds of being a specialist.

Tell you something my last 7 years in the Uk are relaxing , only the first 2 Fy years a bit tough because of nights.

5 years of rads training is chill hardly any nights at all.

Another UK bro here but i went all in on aesthetics, did PGcert + all the qualifications needed. 2.5 years in i went to an aesthetic group and now making 350ish k a year at around 29

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Definitely specialise. Currently working as first year rad AC making around 280k all-in pa

Spent 7 years in UK post graduation

Tell u something all my friends who returned to sg are in bad shape I mean super bad shape

Most are in GP land making only 220k a year. Seeing so many patients a day.

And the 3 who got into residency.. guess what they are still in residency.. because it took them 3 years post MOPEX to get in..

Which med school were u from? I too think staying in the Uk to train seems to be a good idea. The RDC has recently been lobbying for UK grads to receive prioritisation so the training situation may improve too in the years to come

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Definitely specialise. Currently working as first year rad AC making around 280k all-in pa

Spent 7 years in UK post graduation

Tell u something all my friends who returned to sg are in bad shape I mean super bad shape

Most are in GP land making only 220k a year. Seeing so many patients a day.

And the 3 who got into residency.. guess what they are still in residency.. because it took them 3 years post MOPEX to get in..

How much left after taxes?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Definitely specialise. Currently working as first year rad AC making around 280k all-in pa

Spent 7 years in UK post graduation

Tell u something all my friends who returned to sg are in bad shape I mean super bad shape

Most are in GP land making only 220k a year. Seeing so many patients a day.

And the 3 who got into residency.. guess what they are still in residency.. because it took them 3 years post MOPEX to get in..

Do all AC make the same in the same cluster in SG? Someone has said so few days ago on this forum.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Which med school were u from? I too think staying in the Uk to train seems to be a good idea. The RDC has recently been lobbying for UK grads to receive prioritisation so the training situation may improve too in the years to come

what is RDC

ex-NHS consultant here and I do not know if I would say staying in the UK is better. Almost everyone I know of who returned to SG got into their choice of residency. Some went back home because they could not get into the residency in the UK and got their first choice residency in SG. Plastic surgery, ophth, etc.

One wanted to do ophth in SG, but changed his plan and ventured into aesthetic medicine. Unsuccessful in that, so went to do GP.

Bottom line is residency in SG is really doable. I dont know why some of the UK bros had more friends who failed to get into residency. Also what is the point of comparing with NUS grads having it more difficult in med school and residency?

is it better to sp or do GP? no right or wrong answer. I chose to specialise because I am not good with generalisation. Back when I was in med school, my plan was just to get that med degree and work 4 days a week post HO. After graduation, I wanted to specialise. Both specialists and GP compliment each other. Get that medical degree first. Poor doctors do not exist.

Someone has said that his GP friends are earning 220k pa. I think comparing salaries itself is shallow. These people may have the luxuries of spending more time with their families. I rather spend less and being able to accompany my ageing mom to her hospital appts. A lot of things in life cannot be measured with money. Whatever you choose to do, be it specialisation, Gp or aesthetic medicine, remember your time with family is limited. Choose wisely.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Take care of yourself too. After having breast cancer must rest don't think so much about money anymore.

breast cancer???