How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Actually the pay for MO is comparatively low for the blood and sweat put in studies...my friend is a 2nd lower class NUS degree-holder; signed on police force and his starting pay is 4.9k. Lol study 5 years of medicine like wasted sia.

Medicine is pass fail. Nus is a relative walk in the park. Whereas Australian or UK universities is a cfm pass.
Other faculty got honours must fight for CAP.

Hard part is abt getting in. Graduating is relatively easy.
For Aussie or UK hard part is finding the money. If you have money, it is a done deal.

That's true. Why should anyone want to study medicine if the pay is so low and u spend so much money obtaining a piece of arguably worthless paper. And I personally know someone who failed med school in UK. Doctoring is such a lousy profession now. Low pay zero respect and no life. Get into finance and u will be rich in no time. If u insist on doing medicine please go for something like Dentistry it is far more rewarding for the compromise u make.

Agreed. Low pay longer hours and needing to compete with both foreigners and locals for shrinking residency spots and later consultant jobs. Even GP land is getting saturated with many GPs turning to pseudo-medical fields like aesthetics to supplement their diminishing income.

My advice to any decent A levels/IB student today would be to pursue their passions elsewhere in finance/government/tech or even overseas where work-life balance is a given with better pay. If you can't afford to study overseas then apply overseas after finishing your 5 years bond. The lao jiaos have a good run maybe ten, twenty years ago but times have changed.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I feel that the salary progression in hospitals is not well understood by local medical students. Can existing doctors help to confirm the following?
To summarise the salary progression before deductions:
HO ~3.3-3.6k, ~4.2k for on call
First year MO ~4.5k (~5k for NS men), ~5.5k-6k for on call(?), ~16-17month salary?
Surgical MOs make slightly more?
Registar, Associate Consultant, Consultant, Senior Consultant?

Polyclinic?

Private GPs ~12-16k for 40hr work week
Private hospitals?

approx correct but 2.7 for hos excludin call - w/ call around 3+

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I think you guys might need to be realistic in this era. The median trajectory is a RP post-residency. As long as you do realistic and responsible financial planning, clearing your student loan and hdb bto should be attainable.

Hi all

I understand that jobs are limited and getting a consultant job or residency position is going to be tough - in light of that, how does one become an RP or get an offer?

Is it possible to become an RP having only done an MO posting in the relevant department or is residency a requirement?

I often hear doctors speaking of migrating to other countries, such as canada, australia or new zealand where the hours and pay are better. How realistic is this with a Singaporean degree? I understand it isn't recognised by many countries.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I feel that the salary progression in hospitals is not well understood by local medical students. Can existing doctors help to confirm the following?
To summarise the salary progression before deductions:
HO ~3.3-3.6k, ~4.2k for on call
First year MO ~4.5k (~5k for NS men), ~5.5k-6k for on call(?), ~16-17month salary?
Surgical MOs make slightly more?
Registar, Associate Consultant, Consultant, Senior Consultant?

Polyclinic?

Private GPs ~12-16k for 40hr work week
Private hospitals?

For restructured hospitals:
Registrar min. $100k annual gross
Associate consultant min. $200k annual gross
Consultant min. $280k annual gross
There are differences among specialties, and more experienced docs in each grade get more.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

For restructured hospitals:
Registrar min. $100k annual gross
Associate consultant min. $200k annual gross
Consultant min. $280k annual gross
There are differences among specialties, and more experienced docs in each grade get more.

That is very good. Worth the investment

Originally Posted by Unregistered

That is very good. Worth the investment

How is this good I'm struggling to understand. That's extremely low compared to standards for today. I founded a small start up company back in 2017 and I'm certainly earning well above what your most senior consultants earn annually based on the figures you quote. Many of my army buddies earn much more than that. My sister who did just 4 years of accountancy had a starting pay of 8k excluding CPF contributions and that's more than what most doctors earn ??? Hm and I thought doctors are well paid

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How is this good I'm struggling to understand. That's extremely low compared to standards for today. I founded a small start up company back in 2017 and I'm certainly earning well above what your most senior consultants earn annually based on the figures you quote. Many of my army buddies earn much more than that. My sister who did just 4 years of accountancy had a starting pay of 8k excluding CPF contributions and that's more than what most doctors earn ??? Hm and I thought doctors are well paid

How can you compare a business owner with a professional?

As a business owner you will obviously earn big bucks if you do well. But can you guarantee your business will always be profitable? Not every start up can monetise every idea successfully

As a professional eg doctor architect, your skills are your revenue generators. You are basically trading earning potential for stability and income progress in tandem with the growth of your expertise

Well for one I don't have to work long hours each day. I spend around 4-5 hours a day on my start up and I invest my money into sources that generates passive income. Around 15k of my monthly income is passive and I expect this to grow with time as I invest more and expand further. The majority of my income however comes with more risky investments but with careful planning and risk management it is highly unlikely those will end up failing. Will u rather be stuck in a tedious job working long hours each day or pull up ur socks and start learning how to live life the right way? I still have great admiration for doctors for all the sacrifices they make to keep us healthy and wealthy but I just couldn't get round the fact of why so many of them are willing to sacrifice so much of their life to care for people who are unrelated to them. Maybe I'm selfish and I'm the worst human being but ultimately I care more for myself and my family than for people unrelated to me. Huge respect to the doctors. It's such a pity