The NUS YLL degree is highly respected internationally and most first world countries would readily accept its graduates, but MOH has requested its Commonwealth counterparts like Australia/NZ/Canada to NOT recognise the YLL degree as an equivalent degree to intentionally restrict Singaporean doctors mobility, consequently there's more hoops to jump through instead of being able to practice straightaway like a local graduate. Now this used to be fine back in the 90s and even early 2000s, however now with MOH ramping up its intake from third world countries to increase competition for us, isn't it high time MOH remove this artificial barrier to Singaporean doctors mobility so we can help promote the brand of Singapore Medicine beyond our shores?

Don't know why there have been so many "troll" type of responses recently. Well it just goes to illustrate that there is a growing sense of hostility against doctors in general. It may not be so good to discuss our salaries in detail in such a public forum.
If you have passion in medicine, being a doc is the best job as it ticks all the boxes for fulfillment in career':
1. Remunerated well (talking about AC and above, so hang in there. Your pay will increase exponentially once you are a specialist, usually in your mid 30s)
2. A job that brings benefit to society
3. Autonomy and having control (also AC and above)
4. Job security

Not all doctors are selfless BTW.

But if you aren't a professional you will never be able to understand the satisfaction that comes with honing your skills in a chosen profession and possibly becoming very competent in the field.

Money is fantastic but so is being better at what you do everyday.

There are many high earning people in all sorts of fields who continue to work insane hours and participate actively professionally until they're 70 or even 80 years old. Do you think they do it for money?

Do you have a source on MOH restricting the occupational mobility of Singaporean doctors?

That does not address the root cause presently, i.e. that there's little progression for junior doctors in singapore and the life of one is to be underpaid and overworked because of poor manpower allocation.

Bit of a sidetrack here. I was just wondering what is the general consensus regarding international medical graduates' caliber like those who graduated from the UK or Australia. How do they compare to local grads ? Are they severely lacking in knowledge and skills ?

Im a UK singaporean med student. From what I heard, takes about 6 mths for UK grads, 12 for Australian grads to acclimatise apparently. I have a few seniors who are doing quite well back in sg, one won best junior dr award or something.

most sg/msia students in UK unis tend to top their batches so their knowledge is normally quite good, guess it is just adjusting to a different system, learning malay, dialect, mandarin etc

Seems very rare that singaporean doctors leave sg though, wonder why? I only know of this gp who migrated to NZ but passed away in an accident, was in the news few years ago.

Thanks for sharing your answer to my question. I'm curious as to how international medical graduates, specifically UK medical graduates fair in terms of procedural skills when held against their counterparts who completed medical tutelage in singapore. For example, I read from sources online which claimed that HO routinely performs procedures such as LP, femoral stabs and chest drains in Singapore. My question is, will UK graduates be able to perform the abovementioned procedures up to the standard of a Singapore medical graduate? In fact, were you ever taught the procedures in your medical school in the UK? I don't think it is even mandatory to get those procedures signed off as a core procedure before UK graduates complete their FY1 year.

From what I know LP is unlikely to be done by an F1, not sure of the rest, probably all at least F2 or CT/ST1 (resident year 1). Probably have to learn on the job? I guess a HO would know it since they do 30-36h shifts and might be alone at night

What stage are you at now?

FY1 that's why the uncertainty on whether I should return to singapore or will I be looked down by my colleagues for not being able to perform procedures as well as them if I return. Which stage are you at ?

Don't worry. Some of them cmi also. As the saying go, see one, do one teach one. In a few weeks time you will be up and ready.

Can someone advise: what is the % of registrars who become ACs, and the % of ACs who become Cs?

Singapore system is not like Hong Kong. Almost 100% of AC will become C after one year of service excluding hmdp.

In Hong Kong, after exit most people are emplaced as AC. To get C, the previous C needs to retire, so probably need to wait for quite some time as long as ten years.

Now the tricky part for reg to AC in current Singapore climate. In Singapore since AC to C is automatic, the hard part is reg to AC.
As headcount for AC, C and SC are lumped together, so you must wait for an SC or a C to leave or retire before you can get promoted to AC.

So based on current estimates, the waiting time is probably about 1-2 years for those exited in 2018. Those in 2019 to 2020 is probably about 3-4 years. I do not think the average waiting will be more than 5 years, because people usually don't want to wait that long and will leave the sector.

LP unlikely in HO yr.
HO proficient procedures : fem stab, IDC, plug
Procedures wise u should be fine. I was ok in HO yr. Be humble and learn from your colleagues, MOs and nurses.
lp I only became proficient after neurology posting.
Chest drain quite rare. Only ever did one in 2 months of RCCM/ICU
Source: I am a UK IMG IM junior resident

hi how difficult is it to get into residency thesse days? what was the transition like from UK to sg?

Im only a lowly 4th year haha. do you have the grant or are you applying for a job? heard job vacancies are quite limited these days. any reason why you plan to go back?

Is it true house officers are not permitted to take no pay leave (consequence = failure of posting)?

Or does this only apply to local graduates?

for PGY 1 framework, need 12 months of full time work to accumulate sufficient experience. hence NPL will not be counted. say you take 1 month of NPL, then you need to serve another 1 month to ensure you get full 12 months of full time experience.

Generally NPL for frowned upon unless there is valid reason.

I took the grant when I'm in my third year. Not sure how difficult it is to get into various specialities in Singapore. It should be expected that some specialities are easily to 'get into' while some are extremely difficult. I was told specialties like IM and GP might be easier to get into but I'm not entirely sure. The sub specialties of IM will be tougher. Not sure what's the percentage of applicants that get accepted. Maybe someone in this forum might be able to advice.

I kind of regret taking the grant now and many of my peers have the same sentiments. Discounting the lack of training opportunities in Singapore there are still many reasons one might choose to stay in the UK. Welfare obviously being one. People here are very nice and keen to teach. Also, you have 3 weeks of annual leave per 6 month in th UK which makes it 30 days a year. I have 39 days in total this year due to days in lieu working on bank holidays. That's 2 months of free holiday for you to travel back to Singapore to visit your family. Not sure how many days Singapore HOs or MOs get. Might be about there as well but I'm not sure. You have the option of locuming here from FY1 which pays band 3 £30-40 an hour to supplement your wage. You can't work more than 48 hours a week due to the European working guidelines if not you will be paid a lot more up to x2 of your basic pay. Not sure if this will change after brexit but I highly doubt it will. You get lots of free time and quality time you can use to study for your MRCP which we tend to take in Sept early FY2.

That is sweet. If you locum in Singapore, you will get charged by council. Since you will be on a conditional license for first 3 years. For full license, locuming might get you immediate dismissal.

How much liquidated damage you have to pay if you Break bond?

Wait, so as a local graduate, does this mean I have the option of taking a month of no pay leave should I want to; so long as I complete 12 months of full time work in total as a HO?

What is the reason for not allowing Singaporean doctors to locum?

The base income provided by MOH is not exactly generous.

about 10% of the last year of your fees

many thanks for the insight. hope you enjoy the rest of your time in the UK!

still unsure about wanting to go back, seems it will be saturated at the junior positions soon and it is already saturated at the top trying to get an AC position while less people are applying for a training post in the UK plus the work-life balance, although you might be more fed up with the poor NHS than the richer efficient high-tech sg system..

NHS is poor coz each Dr works only 48hr per week. If we can make them work 96hr, imagine the cost savings, the efficiency, the reduction in waiting time.

The money saved could be spent on high tech stuff, shortening waiting times for radiology scans.

But they protest.
Leaving EU is the first step to be being great again.
If each Brit work as long and hard, like in Victorian times, there will be a resurgence.

This must be sarcasm right? What's wrong with working 48hours per week? Moveover being a doctor doesn't pay you more than other jobs that require only 48hours or less per week.

Hi, I am a UK graduate worked in UK for few years, came back to Singapore a few years ago, failed to get into residency after a few attempts. Just wondering if anyone here feels that they seem to prefer younger doctors/applicants for residency? (Eg pgy 2/3 instead of those pgy 5/6)?

What residency did you apply for ? It seems quite unlikely to struggle to get into residency after 5/6 years as a doctor.

I am thinking about returning to singapore from sydney to become a house man after i complete my degree here

I understand no job is perfect and I consider it a victory if 3 out of 5 of my wants are met.
1. Life work balance
2. Income
3. Location
4. Coworkers/my fulfillment
5. Future opportunities

Does anyone have suggestions?

Any GPs here?
Will like to ask in Singapore, does everyone who are not specialists eventually become gp? Do you actually have to go through fm residency to become a recognised gp? (Like the UK where you can only become a qualified gp if you go through the training programme)

Not a GP but my senior wanting to be one told me no need to do FM but it might change soon. probably have to choose the relevant postings as a MO if you dont get into FM. Seeing the need for more GPs might not make sense to mandate a training programme?

1. Not in singapore
2. You get higher pay in Australia USA New Zealand and even UK working far less hours
3. Singapore is a pretty good location if you consider availability of food and entertainment
4. Hierarchical working culture, might get bullied as a HO. Fulfilment as a doctor much the same as other places, and patients are more demanding and rude compared to other first world nations
5. Not great

But I guess those in the training programme (aka residency) progress faster in their careers and have more job opportunities?

Transition difficult as one might expect
Guilty until proven innocent is the general sentiment for IMGs
I struggled mightily the first couple of months
IM still ok I got in first yr MO but increasingly difficult

Think UK is less pay after tax but probably more per hour. Seems like australian grads have little choice unless wanting to do the 48 mth rural internship contract, not sure if NZ or UK will accept them if they are not citizens?

Singapore is probably 2/5, decent pay, good location (everything is accessible). Poor opportunities except if you aim to be GP which the govt is pushing hard.

what do you mean by guilty until proven otherwise?

Incompetent until proven otherwise

Thank you for the advice, I'll heed it.

From the comments on this website, the work conditions for young doctors in sg dont sound the best.

Any reason why it is like that?
Can't be safe right, has anything bad happened before?

Senior doctors and your local grad counterparts tend to view IMGs in a dimmer light until proven otherwise

To be fair UK used to be like this in the 80s and 90s before they implement working rights, European working hours, new deal etc. This was from a consultant based in UK who worked in SGH previously. It is not safe for patients if doctors are overworked and TATT. Singapore just stretch their manpower rather than allocating the right amount of doctors to patients. Hence you still get 36 hours shift and ridiculous working hours. Maybe the government is trying to cut cost. Pay hasn't increase much at all in recent times when adjusted for inflation. In UK, working that kinda hours is deemed not safe for both doctors and patients and the health board gets punished badly if they fail to abide by the working guidelines. In singapore they blame it on culture. It is rather the backwards mentality and fear of speaking up that makes the working culture what it is today.