Pharmacist
 

My age: 28
Current location: Malaysia

Current Job: Pharmacist (Hospital)
Current pay: Around RM 4700

I am being offered S$3450 plus S$600 housing subsidy as a hospital pharmacist.
Including S$1000 relocation benefit.
I have more than 3 years of working experience.

Is it worth it to cross the causeway?

congrats! you'll be earning double. if you and a few friends share an apartment together, you can probably save a lot of money.

I would look around in Singapore before aceepting that job, particularly if it has a contract that ties you in. Pharmacists are in very short supply in Singapore. Many Guardian pharmacies just have a webcam linked to a pharmacist somewhere on the net. I'm almost certain you can get $4-5K at a Guardian or NTUC pharmacy. Just check with Guardian in Singapore before you sign on at the hospital.

Actually I am planning to start a family at Singapore. My future wife is an engineer and has yet to get a job in Singapore.
May I know how much household income do we need to buy a decent 4-room HDB flat and possibly a car in the near future?
Anybody knows the average salary of pharmacist with 3 years of working experience here?
Thanks.

in my opinion, your pay alone is enough. the car will have to wait till you have enough savings. so that means if your wife can chip in, you should have no problem affording a 4-rm and a small car in the near future. welcome to singapore.

forgot to add: you need to be a PR first before you can buy a HDB flat.

hi sophistic !
 

Hi ,

Hi sophistic , I am also been offered the position with similar amount. have u accepted the offer? I dunno whether this is consider low or average. I wonder is there any room to negotiate at all... Can i ask which hospital is it?

the rental is sky high in SG. a common room cost at least 700 (decent condition). and you do not have CPF contribution until you become a PR. getting a flat here i suppose will be like 3-4 years later. you have to weight the pros and cons before u make the decision. good luck!

Hi, can u send ur contact no or e-mail to my inbox here. better to chat personally. Thanks.

The salary you are offered is about there for hospital with your experience.

Salary is better at the retail setting as you can/required to work extra hours at locum rates which is 25 - 30/hr.

On average, retail pharmacists can fetch home about 4+k, 6+k with longer hours and weekends burnt.

The reason why sg has shortage of pharmacists is, 1) no prospects, 2) low pay, long hours, 3) no respect from doctors/nurses/patients.

hi sophistic my email is [email protected] , pls send me an email aor dd me msn asap. i need to make my imp decision soon . thanks

I wan to noe more as well
 

Im fresh grad pharmacy degree holder from malaysia as well, may i know how ur join the medical team n mind send me u r msn so we can chat there?

hi
 

can anyone told me how to apply for pharmacists job in Singapore?
currently I am working as a retail pharmacist in Malaysia.

just submit your resume and apply for the pre-registration pharmacist position if you are fresh grad or pharmacist position if you have prior experience.

any website to hunt for the jobs? i think pharmacist with experience also need to undergo training again in Singapore right? btw, I am Malaysia registered pharmacist.
thanks for helping out =)

you can try jobstreet, jobsdb etc.

But i can tell you. Don't bother about the ads. Just send in your resume cos they are constantly employing pharmacists.

For the pre-registration training, I would say it's a case to case basis. Sometimes, they say don't need. Sometimes they say 6 months will do. Sometimes you need to do the full year. It all depends on which company and who the interviewer is.

But the test by Pharmacy Board is a definite must for all pharmacists.


For fresh graduates from overseas, definitely have to go through the 1 year pre-reg training.

thank u so much for the into...but send in resume to where/who(if do not bother about the ads). I wanna work for hospitals, is the demand for hospital pharmacists high in SG?
many thanks

Just check out their websites, note their address and submit your resume, attention to the HR department.

Or simply call them up and ask who to attention to.

Some hospitals have the emails on their website.

Everywhere is short of pharmacists, just send.

sg
 

very true, no prospect and respect in singapore. doctor here r very "protected". playing with words is just another their forte and we pharmacy gets most of the blame. Im just a low life pharmacy technician in sg

My daughter is taking the O level this year. She likes Bio & Chem and am thinking sending her to USA to do pharmacy degree.

After reading all these postings, really need to think twice. Is it worth to study pharmacy?

movement evereng
 

do not make that mistake.if she likes bio or chem, better be an engineer,free to roam the world.or even can consider academia.academics internationally is not boring anymore.definitely more exciting than being stuck in a crummy hospital or pharmacy being spat at by doctors everyday.unless u r hoping that she plays second fiddle and marry a rich doctor.take it from me.i know.graduated from the premier pharmacy in malaysia.5 yrs experience.no long term career prospect for pharmacy in sight.

currently, u r in singapore/malaysia??

If you intend to send your daughter overseas to study pharmacy, it's an excellent move.

US Pharmacy is a straight pharmD if I'm not wrong and the degree is recognised everywhere, unlike in sg, the pharmacy degree is only recognised in sg and msia.

It'll also be better if she doesn't come back to sg. Stay in US and work in the R&D for pharmaceutical companies. That's where the money are.

Dispensary
 

Hi,

I am not a Pharmacist. But my wife and close friends are trained/qualified Pharmacists.
From a conversationalist/bystander's perspective, the role of Pharmacist in SG is underated. [As compared to AU/US, where Pharmacist have 'dispensing' rights. The general impression is that in those countries, Pharmacist are as well regarded/respected as medical Doctors.]

Slowly by surely the 'situation' is changing in SG for the better. [It will take some more time before heading towards the right direction to emulate the 'separation of duty'. Think in terms of Gross Profit (GP) from drugs dispensed and the muddle 'grey' areas between generic vs branded being pushed/dispensed/advocated. Offhand, I have the impression that Dr in AU/US are not allowed to specify the brand. They must state Paracetamol (drug name/compound) rather than 'Panadol'.]

In my recent memory/conversation with Taiwanese associates, they seem to have followed the US/AU model.

In terms of prospect (in SG), my wife and her close group of classmates are in the Pharma industry. [They have served their time during Pre-reg and beyond. Good learning experience and for them to gain some humanity. They need to deal with people from various walks of life while in Hospital/Polyclinic/Retail. On my part/contribution, I had to carry the tome of 'Drug information' when she was on-call (hospital) duty during the scheduled weekends. I viewed it as another/extra form of 'National Service' then!!!]

In gist, first degree is only a start. There is a 'trained' pharmacist holding CEO position in the hospital. [Skeptics may argued based on the ratio of other professionals holding CEO positions.]


Fruits for thoughts.

Rgds,
'Pipeline'

Yes, there is indeed a ceo in hospital (one and only one) who is a phramacist. There are also a few pharmacists who hold high positions in pharma companies.

But these are the few successful ones who managed to break the trend.

Most pharmacists either remained as retail, clinical pharmacists, sales reps, r&d etc. Unless you are a specialist pharmacist. take the pharmD if you can if you are registered in sg. Otherwise be prepared to be a pharmacist all your life.

I know because I was a pharmacists and i certainly hated being one!

The few replies above are by me and i'm speaking from my own experience.

No prospects. Esecially for the guys.

thanks for all the info, appreciate it.

my plan is to send her to USA to get a pharmacy degree, six years program, then 3 years in medicine.

O level can't do medicine degree right the way and I do not want her to do A level. A level sucks, I had gone thro' it and it is really sucks. Too much in depth and does not apply in university program.

After doing some research on Malaysia medicine twin program, I think it is better to send her to States.

salary
 

can i know what is the average salary for pre-reg phamacist in retail pharmacies (guardian or watson)? and what is the average salary for the following year?
currently i got job offer from one of these companies and your reply will help me a lot. thanks

what au pharmacist?
 

Please please please research the australian pharmacist demand in 2012 and let me know if you'll still recommend.
Pharmacists are not highly respected in Australia unlike in the US where they have specialist pharmacist in different hospital departments.....
Pharmacist jobs are few nowadays and the pharmacy societies are trying to reframe the pharmacy practice in Au.
Please please my advice is DON"T STUDY PHARMACY!
THe salary of a pharmacist is no different to that of a supermarket person, serious! Please do your own research!
If you wanna study, I'd suggest dentist or doctor but need to undergo more training to be more qualified like specialist or orthodontist before your pay is higher than other professions such as electrician.....

Not joking and speaking from someone qualified in the pharmacy field in Australia......

Pharmacist wanted x 5
 

Responsibilities:


Pharmacists provide a wide range of patient-oriented services to inpatients and outpatients.

Besides dispensing and counselling patients on their medications, they work closely with physicians to recommend and monitor patient drug therapy and provide drug information.

Using sound clinical knowledge, they will identify, resolve and prevent drug related problems, thus ensuring safe, appropriate, cost-effective medication therapies for patients.

Requirements:

Recognized Pharmacy Degree
Registered with Singapore Pharmacy Council
Minimum 1 year experience as registered Pharmacist
SG / SPR / MALAYSIAN are welcome

Please email to [email protected]

hi bro, i agree with you~~~do not study pharmacy any more~~

Just share how much a pharmacists with 10 years experience can earn in singapore will help to explain everything here.

Pharma prospects
 

Hi Freinds
I will be recently moving to Singapore.Am a Pharma Graduate with a Post graduate diploma in Pharma Business management from Mumbai ,Please If someone could guide Me on the prospects of My Career at Singapore.............

Get real !
 

pharmacist pay = sales person ?? Are you living in a communist country then ?? Annually..
Aussie pharmacist around AUD 80,000
NZ pharmacist pay around NZD 70,000
Malaysia pharmacist around RM 60,000
UK pharmacist around GBP 45,000

I have worked in all those countries, for years !!
oh, BTW, salesperson is about 1/4 to 1/6 of that.

Pharmacist
 

May I know the salary for the newcomer of pharmacist?Is salary of pharmacist in sgpore is higher?Is pharmacist is juat a study of medicine?

Please, get your facts right.

I was a pharmacists and now in pharma sales. Annual income is definitely higher than that of a pharmacist (my classmates). If you compare hourly rate, it's almost double of what they are earning.

Pharmacists work long hours behind the dispensary. Reps are flexible and much shorter hours.

Pharmacists in SG are doomed because of the lack of dispensing rights.
Doctors in clinic are allow to sell/dispense drugs to patients and clinic assistants (usually middle age aunties) dispense the drugs to patients. This is why people associate dispensing to these middle age aunties. No many people know that pharmacists you see behind the counter at Guardian/watsons are degree holders. Even in hospitals, pharmacy technicians (diploma grads) are dispensing drugs, though under the supervision of pharmacists.

i don;t know about the starting salary now. my time was 2.8k after pre-reg.

Pharmacy is NOT a study of medicine. Unless you are specialist pharmacist in a hospital, generally nobody give a hoot to you.

Patients will thank doctors and nurses but nobody will know the existence of the pharmacist who might have just intervene a prescription with error that may cause you harm.


Long before there were specialist pharmacists attending to patients in clinics in hospital, nurses were already given this task!

Think about it.

Agreed.
 

The earlier replies to this thread are correct/factual.

I know of many close friends who are trained and registered Pharmacist working in SG and abroad.

Bottomline: Unless you are PharmD or equivalent, or working in Big Pharma with some fancy titles, the 'rest' are just barely scrapping the point of entry (level) into the corporate 'salary foodchain'.

To clarify: I have great respect to the Pharmacist as a Profession, but the sad truth is that the level of respect accorded to this field of study is not proportional to the length of studies and wide knowledge that had to be acquired. Particularly on the 'Dispensing Rights' being rested on the Doctors.

Silver lining: There are growing associated industries that can make good use of their knowledge. Do your own Research. ;)

pharmacist salary
 

hi i would like to ask how much a pharmacist earn in hospital setting after the one yr of pre-registered training after graduating from nus?

and how is the long-term career prospect? and will u have pay rises if u work in hospital setting and watsons setting? and ho long do u need to work in watsons?

in hospitals, u have to work for 5.5 days which i think is really quite long.... :(

Have a friend nus pharmacy grad. Few years ago after the one year pre-reg is 3k. Job stability but workload kills. I think watsons pays better but is boring and you won't get to learn much.

HI, mind sharing this? ( There are growing associated industries that can make good use of their knowledge. Do your own Research )