How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Actually if more interested in financially rewarding jobs, should aim to be a PSC scholar and get into Admin Service. Have friends who are Perm Secs earning more than a million a year and CEOs too. Though I also have medical classmates who are CEOs but don't know how the pay compares. I guess every profession there is a possibility to go far. Even chefs can be serving in Michelin Starred restaurents and earn well.

Don't need to force your children next time to be a Dr or lawyer. There are many paths to success.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are a good parent. And your son is wise.
Only fools will go into health care now. Thankless job.
Dont be fooled.

Thanks, appreciate it very much. I seldom get praised to be a good parent. My 2 boys are games addict and not very studious. I am definitely not a Tiger mum. But I believe in letting them enjoy their childhood.

Healthcare is indeed for the altruistic. If a mercenary, will not last long. Better to do other jobs.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Actually public bonus no need fight.
It's more egalitarian than u think

Reality is gdfmer dun do much other than see patient.
Even for that some of them suck.
What he or she think is admin work doesn't qualify for performance.
She think the m.meder just sit in workgroups and get A.
Haha. Ya.
So easy u go sit there and try lo. U think draw up a set of guideline is easy?
U dunno the amt of work that goes behind. Even create a new order on epic so much work.
See people song and jealous.

Sibei jialat this attitude. Doomed to fail for sure.
Aiyah. Not happy go private la, no one care what degree u have.
U want provide Ur theory go do m.med and then continue to do the ' admin' work u doing and see whether u get a A or B lo.

Epic... Sounds like you from my cluster (west). Maybe even from my ops. LoL.
Anyway, I think to summarize, in private gp land, you can get mmed lvl pay while having no qualification and doing mbbs lvl work (urti, health screening) outside. (I.e it's a very good shortcut for people who can't pass exam or simply don't want study post mbbs).

Whereas in public, to get mmed pay, you need mmed and do mmed level (i.e registrar) work and in general constantly upgrade/challenge yourself. (I.e continuous studying- not so much exams but also as part of your daily work, like keeping up with latest guidelines etc)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Actually public bonus no need fight.
It's more egalitarian than u think

Reality is gdfmer dun do much other than see patient.
Even for that some of them suck.
What he or she think is admin work doesn't qualify for performance.
She think the m.meder just sit in workgroups and get A.
Haha. Ya.
So easy u go sit there and try lo. U think draw up a set of guideline is easy?
U dunno the amt of work that goes behind. Even create a new order on epic so much work.
See people song and jealous.

Sibei jialat this attitude. Doomed to fail for sure.
Aiyah. Not happy go private la, no one care what degree u have.
U want provide Ur theory go do m.med and then continue to do the ' admin' work u doing and see whether u get a A or B lo.

You sound like a mmeder, and someone of seniority in ops.
I am just curious, when it comes to hiring in primary care/FM setting (can be ops/community hospital/gp land/fmc etc), is a gdfm worth/valued more than a masters in other speciality (E.g mrcp, mrcs, mrcem etc) or masters in family medicine but obtained in other countries (e.g mrcpuk/fracgp).

Reason I am asking is that I am seeing a lot of IM, ED, GS residents quitting, and they have these post graduate masters. Wonder how are these value compared to a gdfm, which quite frankly is just a diploma..

As a GP who has GDFM working in a large group. I find MMed FM or Graduate diplomas in Occupational Medicine or Dermatology or Geriartric Med or Mental Health to be more useful to a GP than Masters in Surgery or Orthopedics. Just my personal opinion. Have seen a GS in private switch to being a GP , doing Forex on the side and an Orthopod buying over a GP clinic.

What's the dollar value difference between the bonus for
A vs B?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

As a GP who has GDFM working in a large group. I find MMed FM or Graduate diplomas in Occupational Medicine or Dermatology or Geriartric Med or Mental Health to be more useful to a GP than Masters in Surgery or Orthopedics. Just my personal opinion. Have seen a GS in private switch to being a GP , doing Forex on the side and an Orthopod buying over a GP clinic.

What made u choose a chain vs OPS? Salary is same right, i am getting 160k per year in ops

Originally Posted by Unregistered

What's the dollar value difference between the bonus for
A vs B?

10k- is quite substantial

Anyone knows how one care is like to work at

Originally Posted by Unregistered

What made u choose a chain vs OPS? Salary is same right, i am getting 160k per year in ops

That's good for u. I left public service once my bond ended and after my first maternity leave. Work life balance is important to me. I was working in the polyclinic and just completed my GDFM.

I find polyclinic work to be too tiring and strenuous for me. Physically, I don't have the stamina for it. I even manage to negotiate for no calls and to work parttime to extend my bond. I had my reasons for it and my superior agreed.

Singhealth was good to me. Didn't ask me to fulfill my one year undertaking for sponsoring my GDFM. They even turned a blind eye to me locuming on my off days outside.

Private is less stressful as we see fewer patients and less complicated ones compared to OPS. Pay was also better. Locumed for 10 years. Enjoyed the freedom and flexibility.

Leave is up to me to arrange as a locum since it is no pay leave, don't have to feel bad taking it and much easier to take leave when I need to.

Also learnt different things locuming like how to do rapid HIV tests and do proper health screening.

I am not going to take MMed FM. Just maybe more graduate diplomas as they will help me with my job.

Most I earned as a locum was S$150k a year and S$15k a mth only for one mth though. Ha ha as I said I don't have the stamina to work long hrs.

For the hrs I put in as a locum like 30 odd hrs a week, I mostly earned about S$130k a year.

I made my money like S$500k through property so that kinda makes up for my lower than average income.