I think they want well trained family physicians that can handle complex cases and reduce referrals to acute Hosps. They want well trained family physicians that can handle chronics well, that can reduce complications rate. They want family physicians to do more.

Hence Chas has been expanded to cover all Singaporeans. Although the chas amount may not be a lot. But there is rental pressure, there is cost of EMR, cost of drugs, cost of consumables, cost of compliance and records keeping to prepare for MOH audit, cost of accounting, cost of continuing medical education. In this day and age, you have to be very altruistic to provide good care. Need to work really long hours, to keep consult sufficiently long for each patient, and price reasonably.

Does that mean that most family physicians out in the private/polyclinic setting are not well trained And can't handle chronic condition? (I.e they refer at the earliest possible opportunity?)

Hi, I am a UK grad, pgy 3 interested in internal medicine. I have completed my mrcp part 1/2 and in the process of doing paces.
Just wondering given the job situation/prospect in Singapore (with emphasis on family medicine and step down care) should I still pursue IM residency?
And just wondering if I pursue a specialist in gm, how easy is it for me to convert to a gp if I am unable to get a AC job in 5-6 years time?

Hi, I have a question for all current residents/trainees. When we prepare for postgraduate examinations (eg MRCP paces/MRCS part B- i.e the osce exam), are there trainees who take their examination outside Singapore/UK?
I just wonder if for eg we take our paces in like India/KL, and pass, will our qualification be deemed of a lower value as compared to those who passed the same exam in UK/singapore?

No diff. Mrcp is mrcp. Singapore or India or UK , paces standards are deemed to be equivalent

s://.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/moh-cuts-overseas-medical-schools-approved-for-practise-in-11459004

"That is because you have fallen prey to the story sold by MOHH and MOH. The story is that there has been (and continues to be) a shortage of doctors relative to the absolute population and specific sub-population (in our case, the ageing population). In other words, when the other 2 (LKC and Duke NUS) medical schools were opened, the narrative was that more doctors needed to be churned out to meet this need.

That story is not untrue. However, the bigger and more unsettling problem is that of structural unemployment. During the time when the 2 new medical schools were training their student-doctors, MOH and MOHH brought in a bevy of foreign trained consultant doctors (UK, India, Philippines etc). Unfortunately, this move coincided with the implementation of the Residency System which has been widely recognized locally as a monumental failure.

The situation today is as such: We have too few vacant Consultancy positions and way too many junior Residents. Doctors who are in their 4th or 5th year of Residency who should be looking forward to a Consultancy when they "exit" their training programmes are instead offered peace-keeping titles such as "Senior Service Registrar" or "Resident Physician". These are dead-end positions. Most, if not all will never make it to Consultancy, until the position is vacant, and no other junior Residents (R4/R5) are groomed for it.

So, what do Junior Doctors do in this messy situation? They leave to the Private Sector. Most will locum or be GPs. Some will do diplomas in aesthetic medicine and become aesthetic physicians. Some will become medical officers in the private hospitals. Some will train overseas (yes, train. Because the local Residency is not recognised anywhere else, not even in the United States which inspired it's development). Some will do something else (e.g. Public Health, Medical Ethics, Medical Law).

All of this exacerbates the "shortage" perceived by Singaporeans in the A&Es (long waiting times), Specialist Outpatient Clinics (long waiting times...), and woefully misleading or incomplete articles such as the ones you linked above."

You said that the residency is widely regarded as a monumental failure. Can elaborate further on that? Is it just because there are insufficient AC jobs?

Don't we need more consultants to aid our aging population? And shouldn't they look to increase the number of consultant positions? Is it purely for financial reason MOH and mohh are not willing to increase the number of consultant job vacancy? Economy is bad now. This doesn't seem to be the issue in the UK.

s://medicfootprints.org/singapore/medical-salaries-employment-singapore/

Is this article bs ? Geriatricians earning upwards of 25000 and the working hours directive in sg. Can't work more than 44 hours a week and overtime can be more than 14 hours.

Sorry to be really off topic but just out of curiosity how does one become a professor in singapore after attaining a medical degree?

How is medical service in Singapore?
 

Hi all. I am an Emergency physician in Hong Kong. We always have long waiting time in our ED (average 4-8 hours) and in SOPDs. Medical wards are always above 100% occupancy Lol.

I have read through the posts in this thread, and found out that, despite Singapore has been open to foreign medical graduates for long time, doctors still need to work for > 80 hours a week? I suppose, with sufficient doctors, the workload will be less.

And how about medical service and waiting times? Is it difficult to see a doctor for Singaporeans?

How about those “3rd world graduates”? Do they confer to more medical errors? How do you think their performance is? Bad or good?

Tks for replying! Cheers!

Salary definitely rubbish, max you can get is probably SC pay. There's no procedures in Geri so very unlikely.

Noted that there is a shortage of AC jobs generally, but how about generalist like gm and Geri, are they affected by the shortage of consultant posts as well?

What is the annual wage increment like for chronic MOs?

100-250. About 2-5%

Can I ask to be a gp in Singapore, how important are qualifications like gdfm, mmed(family medicine), fellowship (family medicine)?
Thinking of doing them but they are really expensive.

Wow that is really low compared to other government sectors getting ~5-8%.. So sad

Do we get paid extra for completing MRCP part 1 or MRCS part 1 ? Do they add up to give 1000 extra pm if u complete both mrcp and MRCS ?

Salary package for MO is between 16-17 months meaning the pay for 1st year MO will be 4950 (NS) + 240*4 (calls) = 5910. So 1 year including bonuses = 5910*16= 94560 per annum?

After CPF and income tax 94560*0.7= 66192 per annum take home ? So monthly = 66192/12= 5516 per month (including NS and calls)

Does that seem right ?

No. Must be full mrcs. Part 1 is zero dollar. Bonus is based on basic pay of 4950. Allowance not counted as computation of bonus.

Most civil service is 2-5% increment, unless there is an promotion in grade.

Like wise when you promote from ho to mo, you get over 30% increase.

I suggest hk or south Korea. Better renumeration there.

Thanks for your reply!

So 1 month= 4950 basic + 240*4 calls = 5910 before tax and CPF
After tax and CPF = 5910*0.7 = 4137 per month take home

But including bonuses assuming 16 months package

Total annual income before tax and CPF = 4950*16 + 240*4*12 = 90720
Total annual income after tax and CPF = 90720*0.7 = 63504
CPF = 90720*0.2 = 18144
Total earned = 18144 + 63504 = 81648 per annum including CPF

So actually we are earning about 81648/12 = 6807 per month, but we take home only 4137 per month

Is that correct?

not impt. as long as you dont declare yourself as family physician (title is protected). otherwise you can still use the title GP, general practitioner.

i think cost wise is okie, but the investment in time is more significant

Anyone tried applying for credit cards here? Does the annual income required include CPF contributions by employer? And does mohh include the Employer CPF contributions into it's base salary when giving us the contract? Appreciate any answers here.

For cc application,
Use iras notice of assessment. Iras notice of assessment will include employee cpf and bonus but not employer cpf contribution. This seems to be the most “accurate” comparison of income earned. Based on this, they will calculate your credit limit.

If you just started working, just use the employment letter. anyway most cc annual income is 30,000 which you will definitely hit. If you use employment letter, credit limit will be 4x that of your wage written on employment letter.

The pay that is written in employment letter is inclusive of employee cpf but not employer cpf.
So in addition to the amount stated, employer needs to pay you additional 17% to your cpf.
Up to an annual wage of 102,000. Beyond that no cpf.

I assume you are 3rd year PR or singapore citizen.
If you are foreigner then no cpf benefits, instead you get a $1000 housing allowance.

Thanks a lot for your reply! Yes I'm a Singaporean and will be starting work this October in singapore. Can't wait to start working :)

Four month bonus is extremely optimistic

So what is the average bonus like ? Is AWS not guaranteed? How about IPB and corporate bonuses ?

Has anyone here felt inferior/stupid while seeing your peers get into residency program while you are still stuck as a mo?

Aws is 1mth
Mid year is 0.5mth-cvb
Year end is 1mth-cvb
PB for low to average performance is 1.5mth
So total 4mth is achevieable for low to average performer

As long as you report to work, not rude to your cons, nurses and patients, do your changes, cfm can get 4mths.

If you notti and locum, with a conditional registration, then you will lose your job and registration.
If you notti and locum, with a full registration, then you will lose 2years of bonus if you show a good degree of remorse.


Then income tax wise I noted you put at 10% which is too high.
For junior officers of 4950. Even with a good bonus, their taxable income rarely exceed 80,000. Taxable income does not include employee or employer CPF contributions so end up your annual taxable income is unlikely to exceed 80,000. Furthermore plus a ns man tax relief of 3000, it total taxable is less than. 80000, payable taxes is unlikely to exceed 3350 per annum.

Mid year 0.5
End year 1.0
NPAA 1
PB 1.5

Easy ma

Anyone know how much bonus you get in the private sector (eg raffles/healthway GPs)

Anyone care to explain these terms for those of us who are unfamiliar with the lingo?

NPAA or Aws = non pensionable annua allowance or annual wage supplement. Both are same thing commonly known as 13th mth bonus

PB is performance bonus

Mid year bonus
Year end bonus

what is cvb?

Cvb is corporate variable bonus
Ie mid year and end of year bonus in this thread context.

Different companies may have different definitions. But for this company cvb consist of mid year and end of year.

Variable coz sometimes mid year is 0.6mth can be 0.5mth, can be nothing but rare.

End of year can be 1mth, 1.1 or 1.2, or 0.9

Hi all, currently a fy1 in uk, planning to return to sg as mo end of year. Probably will choose medical related postings or ed for my 1st posting (long term plan im/fm)
Just wondering out of the 3 clusters (nuh, singhealth, nhg), which of them is more welcoming to newbies like myself (i.e more patience/tolerant of mistakes/less judgmental as i find my feet in a new environment?). I do live in the west, but will be happy to travel if needed

Any advice welcome.

Does anyone here have experience with migrating to australia with just an MBBS degree?

think it is very hard. they have excess doctors in cities. unless you volunteer for rural work. but i do know of nus trained nurses who successful migrated.

think there is an opening..
s://.acrrm.org.au/becoming-registered-in-australia/standard-pathway/pesci

I would not mind that. Currently I feel the career path in singapore is not sustainable in the long run.

Hi all.

I am a radiology resident in France from an university which is not in the Second Schedule of the MRA.
Is it possible to work in Singapore as a radiologist after my residency, if I have FRCR ?

Thx for your replies !