How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

From what I see after 10 years in public, most specialist who leave phi do survive in private. I rarely seen any specialist returning to public fulltime after leaving for private. Some do become visiting consultant and run a few clinics/ot (usually for 1 day/week) but most seem to survive outside.

Same thing for gps, although ironically I have seen some gps returning to phi( ops/ch) after being in GP land for few years, but not so for specialist

90% of the private work is monopolised by 10% of the people. so unless you are really good, you are just surviving in the private sector.
i have seen one who did private work for few months and then went back to phi. he said he was not earning anything privately.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

For medical students with family friends and cousins who are in the field (as faculty in uk/aus) in non-competitive specialities, is there anything one can do to leverage that without going too nepo?

Would it be appropriate asking them for some data mining work for their research and became one lf the n-th authors? Or is it just too much / not worth it?

not sure why your question is specific to non competitive specialties.
yes. you can. as long as not just ask them to add you as the last author without doing any work LOL.
by the way, you do not need any publications to get into specialty training in uk/ aud. even the competitive ones.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

bro, isn't ophth lifestyle specialty? also can't they just help u get into something like derm backdoor so you don't have to sacrifice that much in life?

i think you do not understand what he has said. reread it.

his parents are both in lifestyle specialties (ophth and onco). but both had to sacrifice their time during residency (time away from growing children and ageing parents). now both are successful, but wished they spent more time with the children and parents back then. unfortunately, time is irreversible and hindsight is 20/20.

i also dont get it by 'help him to get into something like derm backdoor'. none of his parents are in derm, unless his parents have close bros who are in derm, then that is not doable. once again to get into derm, even with nepo, you need to have more things on your CV. that is time away from the family. choose your poison and enjoy them.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

not sure why your question is specific to non competitive specialties.
yes. you can. as long as not just ask them to add you as the last author without doing any work LOL.
by the way, you do not need any publications to get into specialty training in uk/ aud. even the competitive ones.

yea my question is specific to non competitive coz i have family friends who are in some of them
wonder if these would be useful for applying to competitive specialties in uk or sg though as the research focus will be different and contacts in uk may not help in sg

Originally Posted by Unregistered

yea my question is specific to non competitive coz i have family friends who are in some of them
wonder if these would be useful for applying to competitive specialties in uk or sg though as the research focus will be different and contacts in uk may not help in sg

i think it would help. no harm giving it a try!
but family friends are not the same as first degree relatives (parents, brothers, sisters), so how much they are willing to help you is questionable. i dont think they will extend their help much.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

90% of the private work is monopolised by 10% of the people. so unless you are really good, you are just surviving in the private sector.
i have seen one who did private work for few months and then went back to phi. he said he was not earning anything privately.

yea 90 percentage just barely surviving. That’s why they choose to barely survive instead of going back to public and collecting 450-500k/annum

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i think you do not understand what he has said. reread it.

his parents are both in lifestyle specialties (ophth and onco). but both had to sacrifice their time during residency (time away from growing children and ageing parents). now both are successful, but wished they spent more time with the children and parents back then. unfortunately, time is irreversible and hindsight is 20/20.

i also dont get it by 'help him to get into something like derm backdoor'. none of his parents are in derm, unless his parents have close bros who are in derm, then that is not doable. once again to get into derm, even with nepo, you need to have more things on your CV. that is time away from the family. choose your poison and enjoy them.

for rich guy like him, work so hard for what tbh just invest the money

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i think it would help. no harm giving it a try!
but family friends are not the same as first degree relatives (parents, brothers, sisters), so how much they are willing to help you is questionable. i dont think they will extend their help much.

can collaborate on research but not very useful and time consuming

Originally Posted by Unregistered

yea 90 percentage just barely surviving. That’s why they choose to barely survive instead of going back to public and collecting 450-500k/annum

i felt your sarcasm. i did not say they barely survive. most people survive in private sector, but not fluorishing.
it is also not about money. privately, you work as much or as little you want.
some people rather take a pay cut than to go full mode on until 67.
in PHI, you always have a manager. privately, you are the manager.

peace and happy CNY!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

for rich guy like him, work so hard for what tbh just invest the money

My parents always encourage me and my siblings to pursue our interests and keep our brain active. They have never pressured us to specialise for the higher prestige or money.

Honestly I like GP because I can get to see patients from all walks of life and see a wide range of pathology.

I don’t really think about the income or anything. My siblings are in medicine as well, older brother is a consultant surgeon in UK (he plans to return back soon) and older sister is working as a pens AC at KKH