How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes. Don’t bother asking how much more.
HOD and directors wont be on this forum answering your questions.
People here are mostly jaded GPs and residents.

do people take turns to be hod in a department?

Would like to enquire the market rate for fm doctors (currently fm resident r3).
I have personally enquired with a private chain group, they are offering a monthly salary of 15.3k for a 52 hr/week contract, need to work night shift (up to 10-11pm), and weekends, however no calls obviously. They are willing to offer me this pay even before I take my mmed exam. (Which will be end of next year)

I have not heard anything about the pay that ops will offer me after I complete my residency in June next year. (And whether there will be a pay increment if I do pass my mmed)- I guess we probably will get more details from my faculty closer to the end of the year.

I find the offer from the chain group very attractive (esp given that I am drawing mo pay now). However, would like to hear from some of the seniors
- would ops ever give a pay of 15k even if I complete mmed or even fellowship in 3-4 years time?
- is there anything else I should consider when accepting such offers? (Personally I was quite shocked to be offered such a high pay by the chain group- just checking if I am missing a trick or something?)

I will still complete my residency till June next year, just wanting to explore my options after.
I am happy to pay for my own mmed exam and prep course if needed. (I.e complete residency then take mmed as private candidate)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Would like to enquire the market rate for fm doctors (currently fm resident r3).
I have personally enquired with a private chain group, they are offering a monthly salary of 15.3k for a 52 hr/week contract, need to work night shift (up to 10-11pm), and weekends, however no calls obviously. They are willing to offer me this pay even before I take my mmed exam. (Which will be end of next year)

I have not heard anything about the pay that ops will offer me after I complete my residency in June next year. (And whether there will be a pay increment if I do pass my mmed)- I guess we probably will get more details from my faculty closer to the end of the year.

I find the offer from the chain group very attractive (esp given that I am drawing mo pay now). However, would like to hear from some of the seniors
- would ops ever give a pay of 15k even if I complete mmed or even fellowship in 3-4 years time?
- is there anything else I should consider when accepting such offers? (Personally I was quite shocked to be offered such a high pay by the chain group- just checking if I am missing a trick or something?)

I will still complete my residency till June next year, just wanting to explore my options after.
I am happy to pay for my own mmed exam and prep course if needed. (I.e complete residency then take mmed as private candidate)

52h work week ish sibei xiong

I suggest continue ops as rp.
Sit for exams.

Apply leave during peri-exam peroid.
Ops more support.

Do not jump ship direct.

The 52hours will kill you. End up will fail exam one.
Pass exams alr. Then jump ship

U got locum last time right.
Bear in mind 52 hours doesnt include breaks

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Would like to enquire the market rate for fm doctors (currently fm resident r3).
I have personally enquired with a private chain group, they are offering a monthly salary of 15.3k for a 52 hr/week contract, need to work night shift (up to 10-11pm), and weekends, however no calls obviously. They are willing to offer me this pay even before I take my mmed exam. (Which will be end of next year)

I have not heard anything about the pay that ops will offer me after I complete my residency in June next year. (And whether there will be a pay increment if I do pass my mmed)- I guess we probably will get more details from my faculty closer to the end of the year.

I find the offer from the chain group very attractive (esp given that I am drawing mo pay now). However, would like to hear from some of the seniors
- would ops ever give a pay of 15k even if I complete mmed or even fellowship in 3-4 years time?
- is there anything else I should consider when accepting such offers? (Personally I was quite shocked to be offered such a high pay by the chain group- just checking if I am missing a trick or something?)

I will still complete my residency till June next year, just wanting to explore my options after.
I am happy to pay for my own mmed exam and prep course if needed. (I.e complete residency then take mmed as private candidate)

15k is not considered high pay bro.
It’s normal to get 13-15k outside.
What you need to calculate is total annual remuneration.
Most groups may pay you 13th month bonus and that’s it.

OPS base pay post MMed starts from close to 10k but you get sign on bonus if 50k over 3 years and several months of bonus each year with 26 days AL, which can work out to be about the same after you calculate total annual remuneration.
In OPS there’s also progression with annual increment.

Life is different as well.
Private you burn your nights. And you do nothing but see patients.
If you have a family, nights are important to spend time with your wife and kids.
In OPS post MMed you can also do admin research teaching, so there’s more variety.

Pay is not that different tbh.
Ask yourself where you see yourself in 10-20 years. That’s more important.

And yes.
MMed holds no value outside.
Don’t expect to be paid a premium just because you completed MMed.
To the clinic boss, any Tom dick and Harry who can bring in the patients (revenue) is a good doctor. Doesn’t matter what his qualifications are.
Hence, you will be paid accordingly.

15k got include insurance, practice cert renewal? Annual how many day leave? Plus cme point u own self settle. Work in public, u get free lunch and free cme lei.
As many pple has work out for you, once u got m.med, outside not v attractive la.
Private gp somemore got pressure, u no bring in business , off you go. Polyclinic is no scared no patient.
Of cse, private is the start to begin Ur own chain if u so inclined. go out try a few years cmi then come back ops but remember now every year they pump out nearly 70 to 80 m.medders.


Someone posted that there is variety ...actually, for a few years it will be a lot of clinical work where u see patient all day what. It's very sian after a while. In nhgp and singhealth all the tutors so laojiao, where got chance for newbie to run RCC clinic. Teach Medical student u also wait long long lo. Research not everyone cup of tea , so end up u still 80 to 90 percent clinical for at least 3 to 5 years, hit ac Liao then maybe take on a bit more of other stuff. Now MOH guideline is 10 minutes per patient. You expected to see 45 patient a day hor. FORTY FIVE.

Private gp other than burn weekday night 2 to 3 times a week actually not bad la. My experienced is that the work is less brain frying. If u inclined, can end up do a lot of injection , t&s etc which is waaayyyy more fun. private patient less demanding because the more they ask the more they can be charged. In ops, what ketoprofen, what eyedrop, what cream and btw hor, I got this lump on my back, my vaginal very dry, oh, can u also refer me to NDC to wash my teeth and yes yes, can I ask you about my third aunt second son muscular dystrophy? Bloody hell, sometimes want to slap them

Originally Posted by Unregistered

15k got include insurance, practice cert renewal? Annual how many day leave? Plus cme point u own self settle. Work in public, u get free lunch and free cme lei.
As many pple has work out for you, once u got m.med, outside not v attractive la.
Private gp somemore got pressure, u no bring in business , off you go. Polyclinic is no scared no patient.
Of cse, private is the start to begin Ur own chain if u so inclined. go out try a few years cmi then come back ops but remember now every year they pump out nearly 70 to 80 m.medders.


Someone posted that there is variety ...actually, for a few years it will be a lot of clinical work where u see patient all day what. It's very sian after a while. In nhgp and singhealth all the tutors so laojiao, where got chance for newbie to run RCC clinic. Teach Medical student u also wait long long lo. Research not everyone cup of tea , so end up u still 80 to 90 percent clinical for at least 3 to 5 years, hit ac Liao then maybe take on a bit more of other stuff. Now MOH guideline is 10 minutes per patient. You expected to see 45 patient a day hor. FORTY FIVE.

Private gp other than burn weekday night 2 to 3 times a week actually not bad la. My experienced is that the work is less brain frying. If u inclined, can end up do a lot of injection , t&s etc which is waaayyyy more fun. private patient less demanding because the more they ask the more they can be charged. In ops, what ketoprofen, what eyedrop, what cream and btw hor, I got this lump on my back, my vaginal very dry, oh, can u also refer me to NDC to wash my teeth and yes yes, can I ask you about my third aunt second son muscular dystrophy? Bloody hell, sometimes want to slap them

Hahahaha! Finally someone said what seeing patients is like.
Not true that private they dont ask questions. They also ask. They then wil say wah this so expensive how? Look at you ask how? Expect you to waive! Also vomit blood lah.

OPS is better. Just do your work. No need argue about money with patient. Arguing about money is one of the worst and you only have this at pte.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

15k got include insurance, practice cert renewal? Annual how many day leave? Plus cme point u own self settle. Work in public, u get free lunch and free cme lei.
As many pple has work out for you, once u got m.med, outside not v attractive la.
Private gp somemore got pressure, u no bring in business , off you go. Polyclinic is no scared no patient.
Of cse, private is the start to begin Ur own chain if u so inclined. go out try a few years cmi then come back ops but remember now every year they pump out nearly 70 to 80 m.medders.


Someone posted that there is variety ...actually, for a few years it will be a lot of clinical work where u see patient all day what. It's very sian after a while. In nhgp and singhealth all the tutors so laojiao, where got chance for newbie to run RCC clinic. Teach Medical student u also wait long long lo. Research not everyone cup of tea , so end up u still 80 to 90 percent clinical for at least 3 to 5 years, hit ac Liao then maybe take on a bit more of other stuff. Now MOH guideline is 10 minutes per patient. You expected to see 45 patient a day hor. FORTY FIVE.

Private gp other than burn weekday night 2 to 3 times a week actually not bad la. My experienced is that the work is less brain frying. If u inclined, can end up do a lot of injection , t&s etc which is waaayyyy more fun. private patient less demanding because the more they ask the more they can be charged. In ops, what ketoprofen, what eyedrop, what cream and btw hor, I got this lump on my back, my vaginal very dry, oh, can u also refer me to NDC to wash my teeth and yes yes, can I ask you about my third aunt second son muscular dystrophy? Bloody hell, sometimes want to slap them

Yup.
In the short term, post MMed of course need to clear patients.
That’s what they pay you to do anyway.

That’s why I said think about the longer term horizon of 10-20 years.
In clinic chains you are pretty much doing the same thing for 10-20 years unless you open up your own clinic chain.
Bigger groups may give you some options for promotion like regional lead / clinic head whatsoever which will mean you are in charge of the clinics/ several clinics in the region.
So you can also do some admin, chasing for locums, etc if that’s your cup of tea.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

do people take turns to be hod in a department?

Are you a med student?
If you’ve been round long enough then you would have observed that HODs obviously do change.

There are so many factors involved.
Politics…
People getting promoted…
Suitable successor…
People who even want the job…

Hence some departments have HODs who stay longer than others.