How is life as a doctor in Singapore?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Then ask ourselves: why mmed doctors are not staying in OPS? you are saying they guarantee FP, guarantee AC, shouldnt more ppl stay?

? notice i say not enuff and not that a lot of m.meder leave.
There is a dearth because a lot of the RPs leaving and more polyclinic being built. Supply cannot meet demand.

FM is one of the few specialty where u have a lot of choices tbh.

take for eg surgery. yes you are a surgeon when you exit. But you have to get a job in the public because now none of the private hospital will give u admitting ( and hence operating ) privilege unless u are a consultant with 3 years of experience in a public under your belt. When u exit, no choice, u have to get a job a public hospital. You can't set up shop in private now immediately after you exit. You go for a gap year, that's it, your spot is taken by your junior liao.

Not so for the m.meder in FM. Any GP chain will welcome a m.meder because you can hit the ground running. I had interview ( for the fun of it) with many chains. No one bother to ask me my experience. It's straight to pay negotiations. A m.med ( FM) is a badge in itself. You can do what you are hired to do with plenty to spare.

Pple leave the system after m.med for a variety of reason. Some want to take a break. Some of these chaps have been sloughing it out since secondary school -> A level -> chiong med school -> struggle HO -> do the tough FM residency then the even tougher M.med. Many want to have time for themselves. One junior want to go backpack around the world for 1 year. Another want to start a family -> getting a new house and want to design it swee swee. Another want to locum and travel the world in between -> then now want to settle down with a group -> anywhere he apply he gets a interview because he had a M.med.
A few of my m.meders friend leave. They are AC level and beyond. One just completed her family. Can locum in the morning after i sent them to school she says. ' Aiyah, take it easy la'. Afternoon i chill then pick them up from school. Still get 6-8K salary. Can buy my hermes bag.
One want to set up her own clinic. One wants to do more, going into palliative care . Another want more time with her dad who got cancer.

you know why they can do it?

because end of the day, they have a m.med. Chains will take them. They want to return to the public system, pple will take them. When i was a resident i wanted to quit. My PD tells me , finish your m.med then you have a lot of choices. I dunno what he means.
Now i truly do.

There are probably GPs in this thread ,maybe a few sore locums, probably some residency rejects as well. TBH, private GP gig is not bad.
But for the juniors and anyone, dun be short sighted. Life isn't easy. You work hard you get your M.med you have choices in life.
Otherwise you end up being the sore GP , residency reject who do nothing but come here and try to convince everyone else their lifestyle is the best, but because they are doing that, you know that something isn't right. They are stuck in with what they are doing and have no choice but to convince themselves and beguile everyone else

Originally Posted by Unregistered

? notice i say not enuff and not that a lot of m.meder leave.
There is a dearth because a lot of the RPs leaving and more polyclinic being built. Supply cannot meet demand.

FM is one of the few specialty where u have a lot of choices tbh.

take for eg surgery. yes you are a surgeon when you exit. But you have to get a job in the public because now none of the private hospital will give u admitting ( and hence operating ) privilege unless u are a consultant with 3 years of experience in a public under your belt. When u exit, no choice, u have to get a job a public hospital. You can't set up shop in private now immediately after you exit. You go for a gap year, that's it, your spot is taken by your junior liao.

Not so for the m.meder in FM. Any GP chain will welcome a m.meder because you can hit the ground running. I had interview ( for the fun of it) with many chains. No one bother to ask me my experience. It's straight to pay negotiations. A m.med ( FM) is a badge in itself. You can do what you are hired to do with plenty to spare.

Pple leave the system after m.med for a variety of reason. Some want to take a break. Some of these chaps have been sloughing it out since secondary school -> A level -> chiong med school -> struggle HO -> do the tough FM residency then the even tougher M.med. Many want to have time for themselves. One junior want to go backpack around the world for 1 year. Another want to start a family -> getting a new house and want to design it swee swee. Another want to locum and travel the world in between -> then now want to settle down with a group -> anywhere he apply he gets a interview because he had a M.med.
A few of my m.meders friend leave. They are AC level and beyond. One just completed her family. Can locum in the morning after i sent them to school she says. ' Aiyah, take it easy la'. Afternoon i chill then pick them up from school. Still get 6-8K salary. Can buy my hermes bag.
One want to set up her own clinic. One wants to do more, going into palliative care . Another want more time with her dad who got cancer.

you know why they can do it?

because end of the day, they have a m.med. Chains will take them. They want to return to the public system, pple will take them. When i was a resident i wanted to quit. My PD tells me , finish your m.med then you have a lot of choices. I dunno what he means.
Now i truly do.

There are probably GPs in this thread ,maybe a few sore locums, probably some residency rejects as well. TBH, private GP gig is not bad.
But for the juniors and anyone, dun be short sighted. Life isn't easy. You work hard you get your M.med you have choices in life.
Otherwise you end up being the sore GP , residency reject who do nothing but come here and try to convince everyone else their lifestyle is the best, but because they are doing that, you know that something isn't right. They are stuck in with what they are doing and have no choice but to convince themselves and beguile everyone else

You are mistaken, chains dont care abt mmed , they care abt revenue , whether they keep u or uphold their initial pay offer depends on how much money u bring in

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are mistaken, chains dont care abt mmed , they care abt revenue , whether they keep u or uphold their initial pay offer depends on how much money u bring in

Ditto real world is a lot different.
a lot of new polyclinics delayed due to COVID.
but still no manpower and people quitting? how can that be.
With fulfilling job and good pay why would a lot quit?
Ask the people on the ground why.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You are mistaken, chains dont care abt mmed , they care abt revenue , whether they keep u or uphold their initial pay offer depends on how much money u bring in

You are correct. That other poster is typical airy fairy idealist. MMed of course gives you better options. But it's not so swee swee lah.

At end of the day private want money, revenue, profits.

At the start sure MMed sounds like better but if cannot make profits for the chain nobody cares if you have MMed vs the GDFM people pleaser popular revenue and profit generator.

I would agree that it is better to just finish the training and get the MMed if you can. Medicine is still about taking all these exams and collecting letters behind your name up to a certain stage.

I would advise MMeders to stay in Polyclinic and Public sector though.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Ditto real world is a lot different.
a lot of new polyclinics delayed due to COVID.
but still no manpower and people quitting? how can that be.
With fulfilling job and good pay why would a lot quit?
Ask the people on the ground why.

People quit because they think go private is "better".
Truth is medicine sucks everywhere. People are just as difficult everywhere.
The "ground" is more the same everywhere than it is different.
Stick to Public got job stability. Do the work then go home. Find a side gig or hobby.
Private - you will always be pressured to bring in profits, cut corners, or perform "business oriented" maneuvers to generate money. Plus you might be asked to go too.
As anyone knows, being a great doctor taking care of patients well and helping them properly and making lots of money as a primary care provider is not quite the same thing.

Does our tax submitted get disclosed to employers? AnY LOC here who files can share experiene, truly appreciated

and yes, people are leaving as GP land has better work life balance and you can earn similar pay, ppl dont mind working at night once a week but having better mental sanity , less admin

if you are mmed in gp land, u must let go of your long notes and investigative nature if not cannot survive in GP land, investigate what u must and need to , dont ivestigate everything unncessarily and order a whole bunch of tests for every patient like in polyclinic, ur patients wont come back then. in gp land u must rmb its a BUSINESS

ok everyone pls stay in ops for the stability and good money ok.
Never leave ops, also please sign contracts.

Can I ask, I am a R3 finishing residency in July this year. I actually do not have a bond left. I was wondering if it's advisable to stay in ops from July-nov period before the mmed or just join a group/fmc (as this is what I want to do long run)

My faculty has kinda of said that all of us can participate in the bridging program (as long as we pass the upcoming akt mcq exam) even if we are not based in ops. (Since most teaching are after office hrs anyway)

We are just discussing among my batch, quite a few of us have finished our bond, some wants to go Comm hosp, some want to go gp land, and one wants to do palliative (thinking of hospice Rp/fp). Just wondering if one is certain of what they want to do, is there any point in staying in ops post residency prior to mmed? (As you are kind of wasting time, if you have already decided what you want to pursue long term)

Most of is feel that there is no point in just hanging ard in ops, if really don't want to be there, esp if we can do the bridging program anyway.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Can I ask, I am a R3 finishing residency in July this year. I actually do not have a bond left. I was wondering if it's advisable to stay in ops from July-nov period before the mmed or just join a group/fmc (as this is what I want to do long run)

My faculty has kinda of said that all of us can participate in the bridging program (as long as we pass the upcoming akt mcq exam) even if we are not based in ops. (Since most teaching are after office hrs anyway)

We are just discussing among my batch, quite a few of us have finished our bond, some wants to go Comm hosp, some want to go gp land, and one wants to do palliative (thinking of hospice Rp/fp). Just wondering if one is certain of what they want to do, is there any point in staying in ops post residency prior to mmed? (As you are kind of wasting time, if you have already decided what you want to pursue long term)

Most of is feel that there is no point in just hanging ard in ops, if really don't want to be there, esp if we can do the bridging program anyway.

how much do you get paid to stay in ops vs advancing your career? u alr know the answer

U Should locum , only sign after your mmed.once u sign u cannot take alot of leave