How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Y are there people staying on as RPs in polyclinic? The salary not worth right ~ 8-9 k max

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Y are there people staying on as RPs in polyclinic? The salary not worth right ~ 8-9 k max

The main advantage of polyclinic for RPs is the hrs (8-5).
For mmeders of course, there are more opportunities like research, admin, teaching etc if you like those stuff.

Gp hrs are less sociable (they need to be open when polyclinic are closed, so they can have income &#128514, but I feel the cases are in general simpler and more mundane (I.e your screenings, foreign worker check ups, urti etc). It is hard for gps to compete with ops for chronics due to resources available, hence the complex ones tend to go to polyclinic.

Finally is the pt profile. Polyclinic sees virtually everyone from all walks of life, gps do as well, but the location of your clinic can sometimes determine your pt profile. E.g a clinic in central orchard/town will obviously see different pts from heartland gp.

Paywise gps earn 13-14k, 13 mth package (i.e only aws)
Polyclinic around 16mth package, but basic around 8-9k for RPs, can hit 10k for mmeders. (8.6k basic plus 1250 for mmed allowance)

Just my 2 cents worth, from a mopex in ops, but have done lots of locum in army, and still doing now lol.

I will probably leave once my bond is done, as I am not into all these admin/research/teaching stuff. I see myself as a blue collar worker, who is happy to put in the hours (I am single so working unsociable hours/weekend is fine) doing mundane stuff (i.e don't need think too much)
- I must say that polyclinic patients can be slightly complex, especially those step down care cases (sure my fellow colleagues in ops can relate)

Just my thoughts, open to suggestions 😂

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Y are there people staying on as RPs in polyclinic? The salary not worth right ~ 8-9 k max

Wont the salary jump when they become AC or Con? Is it worth it then?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Wont the salary jump when they become AC or Con? Is it worth it then?

Rps not on the track to make AC / C.
RP without GDFM -> RP -> senior RP -> principal RP
FP with GDFM - > FP , senior FP -> principal FP
cFP with M.med -> FP-> AC -> consultant ( need FCFP) -> SC.

in reality not a lot of SC la. They are usually the director at HQ doing some high level work. Principal FP also hard to get. Most of them either work or had work as deputy head/ head or working at HQ doing some high level stuff.
Most people hetataki at consultant esp back when M.med was enough to get consultant.

theoretically, you can slowly upgrade from RP to GDFM to M.Med to FCFP. In reality its quite long and hard and not many people do it. Esp as the jump in salary not significant.
The program and exam cost 30K and when u turn from FP to cFP most cluster don't recognize the previous salary increment u have from the last few years as a GDFM FP and just give u the starting cFP salary.
For the laojao GDFM FP , their basic already exceed the cFP salary and all they get is the extra 600 from the m.med degree vs gdfm. When u paid 30k , that takes a few years to recuperate. Of course, u can choose to take the bond la.

Nowadays, most M.Meders come from residency. Program B also restricted at 70 per intake and extend to 2 years program and passing rate not great.

Increasingly, polyclinic hiring less and lesser RP / GDFM FP because every year 50-60 m.medder to fill the ranks and a m.meder is a surer bet anytime.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The main advantage of polyclinic for RPs is the hrs (8-5).
For mmeders of course, there are more opportunities like research, admin, teaching etc if you like those stuff.

Gp hrs are less sociable (they need to be open when polyclinic are closed, so they can have income &#128514, but I feel the cases are in general simpler and more mundane (I.e your screenings, foreign worker check ups, urti etc). It is hard for gps to compete with ops for chronics due to resources available, hence the complex ones tend to go to polyclinic.

Finally is the pt profile. Polyclinic sees virtually everyone from all walks of life, gps do as well, but the location of your clinic can sometimes determine your pt profile. E.g a clinic in central orchard/town will obviously see different pts from heartland gp.

Paywise gps earn 13-14k, 13 mth package (i.e only aws)
Polyclinic around 16mth package, but basic around 8-9k for RPs, can hit 10k for mmeders. (8.6k basic plus 1250 for mmed allowance)

Just my 2 cents worth, from a mopex in ops, but have done lots of locum in army, and still doing now lol.

I will probably leave once my bond is done, as I am not into all these admin/research/teaching stuff. I see myself as a blue collar worker, who is happy to put in the hours (I am single so working unsociable hours/weekend is fine) doing mundane stuff (i.e don't need think too much)
- I must say that polyclinic patients can be slightly complex, especially those step down care cases (sure my fellow colleagues in ops can relate)

Just my thoughts, open to suggestions 😂

The reality is that most RPs are buay gan
For Sg locals, they are either your dinosaur doctors who know they can't survive outside and so eek out a living in the polyclinic seeing a minimal number of patient a day or they are your clinical associates recruited many years back without a recognized degree recruited from india/ philipines/ malaysia /china , did a GDFM and are conditionally registered ( yes, some bright spark came up with the idea many years ago).
They can never get full registration and they not will want to give up their 8-9K job to go back to their home country.

There are a small numbers of young SG RPs who heng heng get a mopex posting , did well and get hired as a RP. They either do a GDFM quickly then go private or v fast do m.med and then rise up.

Speaking as a relatively new gdfm FP
-base 8.5 + 600 gdfm ( total is 17 months package , sometimes more ) , there is also the 10 k junior fp bonus.

Already more than gp who gets 12-13 k
I work less hrs 8-5 , no PH/ sun/ sat nights

Its actually a better package than private
Not interested in mmed as i wanna concentrate on my family being a female
I dont see why ppl leave to private for lesser pay and more hra
I have almost one month VL not including fcl,ccl

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Speaking as a relatively new gdfm FP
-base 8.5 + 600 gdfm ( total is 17 months package , sometimes more ) , there is also the 10 k junior fp bonus.

Already more than gp who gets 12-13 k
I work less hrs 8-5 , no PH/ sun/ sat nights

Its actually a better package than private
Not interested in mmed as i wanna concentrate on my family being a female
I dont see why ppl leave to private for lesser pay and more hra
I have almost one month VL not including fcl,ccl

17 month package. That sounds good (does that include the covid payout?)
Can I check if polyclinic pays their bonus in 4 separate payouts like moh does (i.e Jan, march, jul, Dec) or they consolidate it all together?

Not including covid bonus

Bonuses :
2m PB ( varies 2-3 month )
1m AWS
2m quality bonus ( for meeting kpi, attending events etc)
Total = 5 months bonus

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Not including covid bonus

Bonuses :
2m PB ( varies 2-3 month )
1m AWS
2m quality bonus ( for meeting kpi, attending events etc)
Total = 5 months bonus

The above looks like the typical mohh
Cluster is abt 1 mth lower typically

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Speaking as a relatively new gdfm FP
-base 8.5 + 600 gdfm ( total is 17 months package , sometimes more ) , there is also the 10 k junior fp bonus.

Already more than gp who gets 12-13 k
I work less hrs 8-5 , no PH/ sun/ sat nights

Its actually a better package than private
Not interested in mmed as i wanna concentrate on my family being a female
I dont see why ppl leave to private for lesser pay and more hra
I have almost one month VL not including fcl,ccl

I didn’t pass my MMed the 1st time and I didn’t try again as I prefer to concentrate on my family and enjoy my life (I was previously from a Singhealth OPS). I joined a small group practice owned by my MMed tutor and my pay package is quite ok, at least on par with a non-surgical consultant. I get around $230k-280k/year (lowest annual pay due to the drop in patients seen in 2020 due to COVID), from my pay package of: basic, profit sharing and bonuses from a 43hr/week and 21 days AL/VL. It all depends where and who you join. If you join a large group ie. Raffles, Healthway, Parkway etc, do not expect your pay to be very fantastic, likely around $160-$200k/year (Not too bad actually). Also, I helped out on PHs and some nights but these are considered extras with a $100/hr locum pay, quite standard in our GP line of work whereas you don’t get ‘OT’ pay in OPS. I also take joy that most of my patients will come back and see me either for their acute or chronic conditions whereby in the OPS, the patients will usually randomly see any drs, unless they are willing to pay more for a FP appointment.

8 years GP and still going strong….