How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi! Can someone shed some light about the salary/income as a specialist in private practice? I heard of a private practice specialist (age 60+) with 150mil net worth which is totally mindblowing...

Do you guys select a specialty based on the ability to make good money? That is if you guys even specialise at all (perhaps you may think starting own chain of clinic can make even more)..

Thanks in advance!

That's if you are in the top 10% of specialists.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

That's if you are in the top 10% of specialists.

Honestly, the age of professionals over. now is tech tech tech. work in sea/shopee, salary highter then u all +++ hohoho

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Honestly, the age of professionals over. now is tech tech tech. work in sea/shopee, salary highter then u all +++ hohoho

this troll is still lurking around? Trying to console yourself before cheap coders from Vietnam and the Philippines steal your job in 5 years time? Better hustle with your meagre pay from a China tech sweatshop and cash out in the meantime while you still can.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

this troll is still lurking around? Trying to console yourself before cheap coders from Vietnam and the Philippines steal your job in 5 years time? Better hustle with your meagre pay from a China tech sweatshop and cash out in the meantime while you still can.

reality is there's some turf protection for tech field la.
he's not even in tech I tell u. lolz, us doctors are expert profiler, esp those lao jiao gp,fp. one look, u talk a bit we already know ur life story, personality etc.
he's probably some diploma holder who have wet dreams about faang. likely holding a mediocre daytime job and after-work lived his life on his secret lab chair , probably half naked , playing games on his computer and trolling internet forums inbetween. no girlfriend, obese , likely muching on a bowl of chips as he is reading this, with a steady supply of tissue paper ever ready by his desk whenever he needs to erm...seek release. hmm...my sixth sense tells me there's some receding hairline as well
on other threads, he's probably the investment banker making 500k every year and bedding every intern that walk across his desk.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

this troll is still lurking around? Trying to console yourself before cheap coders from Vietnam and the Philippines steal your job in 5 years time? Better hustle with your meagre pay from a China tech sweatshop and cash out in the meantime while you still can.

Currently a registrar in public hospital. Are you guys really sure that doctors earn more than people in tech? My pay is around 9k (including calls, Sr allowance which is 1k) bonus is around 4mths from mohh, on average in total including aws. I think pple in law and tech can earn more?

I don't know what my friends in law, tech, or those doing start up earn, but they seem to drive more luxurious cars, and eat in beter restaurants than I do (at least based on their social media profile?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Currently a registrar in public hospital. Are you guys really sure that doctors earn more than people in tech? My pay is around 9k (including calls, Sr allowance which is 1k) bonus is around 4mths from mohh, on average in total including aws. I think pple in law and tech can earn more?

I don't know what my friends in law, tech, or those doing start up earn, but they seem to drive more luxurious cars, and eat in beter restaurants than I do (at least based on their social media profile?

you don't compare the top percentile obviously. all junior doctors start in public healthcare and salaries are clustered around the same standarized paygrades with very low variance. u might as well say tt some superstar insurance or property agents can earn more than all other industries.

question is what a senior doctor in private practice would earn, and what are the prospects of reaching that state. to do that, you need to look at the mean and median salaries of doctors at a certain senior level (say 15 years out) compared to the mean and median salaries of tech professionals (of equivalent working exp). i won't be surprised that the vast majority of tech ppl have plateaued in their earning capacity well before hitting the 10 year mark as there's a limit to how much they can get paid. the next jump wou;d be CTO or founder / entrepreneur (which is a business owner).

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Currently a registrar in public hospital. Are you guys really sure that doctors earn more than people in tech? My pay is around 9k (including calls, Sr allowance which is 1k) bonus is around 4mths from mohh, on average in total including aws. I think pple in law and tech can earn more?

I don't know what my friends in law, tech, or those doing start up earn, but they seem to drive more luxurious cars, and eat in beter restaurants than I do (at least based on their social media profile?

so what if a particular job or field pays more?

it doesnt mean a person can excel in that particular job / field and therefore, it is not sustainable in the long run.

it's so simple.

i know this is a salary forum...
but there's no end to the comparison between salary of doctors and other professions
majority of doctors will end up having a relatively comfortable income
most won't be able to afford a GCB, maybe a nice condo and/or a smaller landed / terrace house. that's just a fact that we have to live with the moment we put our name down on the medicine application from.

apart from that, medicine is in itself a calling. the privilege to be able to heal and touch a life, comforting someone in their time of desperation / confusion / despair - that is something that is beyond the temporary happiness that monetary reward will bring. and that is what we need to keep in mind instead of making ourselves feel miserable by endlessly (and needlessly) comparing our salaries with others.

what's the point?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i know this is a salary forum...
but there's no end to the comparison between salary of doctors and other professions
majority of doctors will end up having a relatively comfortable income
most won't be able to afford a GCB, maybe a nice condo and/or a smaller landed / terrace house. that's just a fact that we have to live with the moment we put our name down on the medicine application from.

apart from that, medicine is in itself a calling. the privilege to be able to heal and touch a life, comforting someone in their time of desperation / confusion / despair - that is something that is beyond the temporary happiness that monetary reward will bring. and that is what we need to keep in mind instead of making ourselves feel miserable by endlessly (and needlessly) comparing our salaries with others.

what's the point?

Medicine has changed. Patients are not the same as in the old days
Much work is spent trying to explain why google dr might not be quite correct pr applicable. The whole managing expectations work is much harder.
Is it really "a calling" when you spend most of the day being told what the conditipn is and what treatment you should be giving?
Things have changed. It isn't just the money. The nature of the work has changed also.
Hasnt anyone encountered the patient that complains aboit their problem but swears they dont want any pharma based treatments or western medicine treatments. When you ask them what do you want then? They go you tell me you are the dr. But you had already told them. Truth is hey want drs to start suggesting those non EBM solutions and validate what they found researching the internet. All good. Until some specialist complains to SMC. Ask Dr Erwin Kay.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Medicine has changed. Patients are not the same as in the old days
Much work is spent trying to explain why google dr might not be quite correct pr applicable. The whole managing expectations work is much harder.
Is it really "a calling" when you spend most of the day being told what the conditipn is and what treatment you should be giving?
Things have changed. It isn't just the money. The nature of the work has changed also.
Hasnt anyone encountered the patient that complains aboit their problem but swears they dont want any pharma based treatments or western medicine treatments. When you ask them what do you want then? They go you tell me you are the dr. But you had already told them. Truth is hey want drs to start suggesting those non EBM solutions and validate what they found researching the internet. All good. Until some specialist complains to SMC. Ask Dr Erwin Kay.

aiyah. u talk about devilish patient, us doctors are not saints also.

I work in public with some ahem *locum-ing* and i've seen my fair share of GP who anyhow...

- pat complain of fatigue -> empirically start on levothyroxine. No blood test, no further hx no examination, nothing. I nearly fell off my chair when i saw the note. Consulting doc wrote literally 2 lines.

- there's the private GP pat with like 3 anti-hypertensives, dapa , fenofibrates and crestor who come into polyclinic wanting to buy the medicine cheaply. He was like paying 400 dollar per mth for medicine. After Im done with the pat 6 months later, he is on amlodipine, metformin and simvastatin paying $3.3 per week. Dude was a cleaner making 1.5K a month. Come on la, u want chop carrot chop some sultan i no problem, u go chop this poor uncle...


by and large most patient ok esp the heartlander population i serve. Most of them pretty appreciative.
quoting that Erwin Kay isn't a good example. Surely he didn't go buy the machine because that patient requested right? He bought the machine wanting to make money off it and started using it to cure everything from headaches to piles. He is like the doctor who empirically start levothyroxine, or another guy who started methotrexate , s://sg.news.yahoo.com/doctor-charged-for-causing-patients-death-through-prescribing-drugs-without-tests-042203520.html