How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

that's the maths u can do right? and every few years will have salary revision and adjust upward by 5 to 15 percent.

this is salary forum with a lot of canon fairy la.
someone will later jump in and say their so n so faang friend have annual increment of 15 percent and you doctor sucks.

dont need to be salty about tech lah.

the truth is protected professions like medicine dentistry law have it good and u can make good living by being a member without being a super high flier. the overall variance in earning between the average and the top isn't very wide

in industrie like tech, you're competing against a much wider field and against overseas competition and only the best can work in silicon valley roles and FAANG level companies. the average coders there r worse off than the averge doctor

Originally Posted by Unregistered

private got its own challenges la. the work is less mind boggling though. I find that it's easy to fall the the dark side in private. like ordering tons of sx meds for urti, starting fenofibrates anyhow. when I locum, I saw private gp starting levothroxine empirically for fatigue. no blood test, nil other hypothyroid sx, so it's dodegy af. u can get v rich if pat likes u.

no fellowship . it doesn't make a diff to your salary.
but most cluster u need fellowship to promote to consultant but having fellowship doesn't ensure your promotion to consultant.
I got my ac 2 to 3 years ago. slowly earn the annual increment lo.
probably retire as a ac.
maybe if they recog fellowship as a completely trained fam med specialist I go and do it.

Too busy rounding to post a lengthy reply but suffice to say you need to take what you read online with a pinch of salt, with the hard push for FM these days from the top so many MOH recruiters have been instructed to tell gullible med students stories of entry level polyclinic doctors with the easy life making 200k a year, only because they need cannon fodder to staff the covid frontlines. Unrealistically high pay + non-specialised work = easy replacement by FTs whereas specialists are not.
I'm not a polyclinic doctor but my classmates who make way less than me are and they can attest to a different reality than what's posted by these MOH recruiters.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Just checking you completeed your fellowship? Currently a FM r3 (taking mmed next year). I am not sure that FM mmed get 200k/annum from what I hear from my seniors. Also I heard that they removed the sign on bonus starting from the batch above me.

Based on my understanding, a private salaried gp can earn 13-14k (without locum) which is still slightly higher that a FM mmed even taking into account the lower bonus, and the need to pay for own insurance etc. But there is no progression, and I guess if you do fellowship, you earn more in ops eventually.

Funny thing is most of my batch all thinking about leaving for private (not sure of it's due to covid fatigue or what)

Edit: Replied to wrong post.

Too busy rounding to post a lengthy reply but suffice to say you need to take what you read online with a pinch of salt, with the hard push for FM these days from the top so many MOH recruiters have been instructed to tell gullible med students stories of entry level polyclinic doctors with the easy life making 200k a year, only because they need cannon fodder to staff the covid frontlines. Unrealistically high pay + non-specialised work = easy replacement by FTs whereas specialists are not.
I'm not a polyclinic doctor but my classmates who make way less than me are and they can attest to a different reality than what's posted by these MOH recruiters.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

dont need to be salty about tech lah.

the truth is protected professions like medicine dentistry law have it good and u can make good living by being a member without being a super high flier. the overall variance in earning between the average and the top isn't very wide

in industrie like tech, you're competing against a much wider field and against overseas competition and only the best can work in silicon valley roles and FAANG level companies. the average coders there r worse off than the averge doctor

MOH recruiter spotted. No GP I know would ever boast about their good life, a GP even died from covid recently reported in the straits times.
And also medicine don't need to compete against foreigners? Yes I believe, because I was born yesterday.

Many studied medicine without the interest, with only the prestige and salary in mind. Never did they expect the CS students to blast ahead of them.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Edit: Replied to wrong post.

Too busy rounding to post a lengthy reply but suffice to say you need to take what you read online with a pinch of salt, with the hard push for FM these days from the top so many MOH recruiters have been instructed to tell gullible med students stories of entry level polyclinic doctors with the easy life making 200k a year, only because they need cannon fodder to staff the covid frontlines. Unrealistically high pay + non-specialised work = easy replacement by FTs whereas specialists are not.
I'm not a polyclinic doctor but my classmates who make way less than me are and they can attest to a different reality than what's posted by these MOH recruiters.

So what’s your specialist level pay (are you AC / C / SC, medical or procedural / surgical specialty?)
And what’s your Polyclinic doctor classmate’s pay? (Are they ACs and above?)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Many studied medicine without the interest, with only the prestige and salary in mind. Never did they expect the CS students to blast ahead of them.

then go do CS lor

dont forget that CS used to be a dumping ground in NUS. Bad reputation for being otakus and socially inept ppl without fantastic grades. no business chick would date a CS guy, let alone any med girls.

the average med sch student is smarter than the average CS student so i'm sure they can pick up programming easily

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Edit: Replied to wrong post.

Too busy rounding to post a lengthy reply but suffice to say you need to take what you read online with a pinch of salt, with the hard push for FM these days from the top so many MOH recruiters have been instructed to tell gullible med students stories of entry level polyclinic doctors with the easy life making 200k a year, only because they need cannon fodder to staff the covid frontlines. Unrealistically high pay + non-specialised work = easy replacement by FTs whereas specialists are not.
I'm not a polyclinic doctor but my classmates who make way less than me are and they can attest to a different reality than what's posted by these MOH recruiters.

Current fm resident and fully agree with what you said. People need to understand that FM will never make as much as medical specialists who will never make as much as surgeons. The entry barrier to FM is also lower, especially given that most patients don't differentiate between gp/FM (This is true around the world but especially so in Singapore with our healthcare model)

I think people should choose speciality based on their character/personality. I seen many people go for surgery residency but quit after they have kids (both male/female) citing they want work life balance...

I chose FM mainly because of lifestyle choice. I don't want to do calls or crack my brains too hard.
When I reach my 40s/50s, I want to have the option of working by choice/flexible hours (i.e locum), referring on once I am not sure of a case rather than thinking too hard (like specialists have to). Of course I have to accept that my pay will be lower.

This was a decision that I made after doing a palliative posting, where I encountered many people in their early 50s dying of cancer. One of the dying patients told me, we only have 20-30 years of golden period to enjoy life, so make it count. (Which makes sense given that from age 0-25, we are only students are are probably too poor, once over 55, we probably too tired/no energy to do things)
.

Having said that, I need to stress that I am single, and plan to remain single. (Goals/priority may be different for those who want to start a family- i.e they may need a higher income)

Would like some advice from seniors, do residents get retained if they do badly in their yearly ite exam, assuming they have passed all their other clinical postings?
When I mean badly I mean either fail or no improvement from last year.

I just completed my ite not long ago and I think I will do badly....just wondering how important/how much emphasis is placed on ite exam?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Would like some advice from seniors, do residents get retained if they do badly in their yearly ite exam, assuming they have passed all their other clinical postings?
When I mean badly I mean either fail or no improvement from last year.

I just completed my ite not long ago and I think I will do badly....just wondering how important/how much emphasis is placed on ite exam?

Dont worry. No emphasis are being places on ite.

But intermediate exam like mrcp, mrcs, mmed matters.
-coz it delay progression to sr
And final exit exam also matters.
-coz it delay progression to ac

Ite is just mcq click click click