Networking Group - JCs General

[lee_yl]

While I hope we can have more locally raised doctors, I get very perturbed by the fact that there are so many young doctors from NUS in Aesthetics Clinics. I feel that taxpayers’ money had gone to waste. Pico laser or other simple procedures can be done by a beautician.


Singapore has limited human resources and we need proper doctors at the public hospitals/A&E after investing so much in their education. While the money is good, it’s not optimal utilization of resources.

[00skyblue00]

I agree. We need more doctors, why import if we can raised locals. The problem is many bright local kids do not wish to study Med.


So far, my experiences with those local doctors i encountered at polyclinics are good, in general. They don’t just show you the test results table and said test is ok and that’s it. There may be one or two outliners.
But those (i guess) who are not locals, eg speak with accent (hk,… ) etc, can tell have own set of ways of doing things. Yes, cannot blame, since they are given a small window of time for each patient.

I thought these young doctors from local med, have min. Public service Hours to fulfill at hospitals? It’s part of conditions to take up local med with full scholarship, no? I am not so familiar.

[lee_yl]

00skyblue00\" post_id=\"2127574\" time=\"1705805032\" user_id=\"143605:

I agree. We need more doctors, why import if we can raised locals. The problem is many bright local kids do not wish to study Med.

So far, my experiences with those local doctors i encountered at polyclinics are good, in general. They don't just show you the test results table and said test is ok and that's it. There may be one or two outliners.
But those (i guess) who are not locals, eg speak with accent (hk,.... ) etc, can tell have own set of ways of doing things. Yes, cannot blame, since they are given a small window of time for each patient.

I thought these young doctors from local med, have min. Public service Hours to fulfill at hospitals? It's part of conditions to take up local med with full scholarship, no? I am not so familiar.

Because Import doctors fast and cheap!!

We should import more because we are a fast aging society and the situation will only get worse and not better!!

Import doctors and nurses can help bring down medical costs for our aging population so just import. Let’s face it, no thanks to LKY legacy we will never have enough locally raised doctors to meet the increasing demands for medical care. If HK docs not suitable then get from other sources like Malaysia.

If one served 6yrs bond w MOH, at the end of the bond, only 27yo-29yo, still very young to me. Then these young doctors jump ship to join the Aesthetic industry. I came across one who served bond halfway at Polyclinic, broke bond to join private sector. The private sector paid for the bond compensation.

[lee_yl]

Regarding the latest A level revamp, I feel that there is no need to over-analyze why AAA/A change to AAA. It doesn’t matter. We just need to play by the new rules.


Under the new grading system, one can fail his/her H1, scores AAA (and A in GP + a pass in PW), that student will still be awarded with FULL RP70 points. It’s quite certain that the number students getting full RP70 will only increase. Of cos this also means that the IGP for more Uni courses will shift towards AAA.

DH recalled that 30+ years ago, Hwa Chong JC had around 70% of its students scoring 3A or better. Today top tier JCs has around 45% of the cohort scoring AAA/A. Therefore, the percentage for AAA will definitely go up.

Then what differentiate these AAA students when it comes to Uni applications? I am not very sure because MOE did not disclose. I would guess one should build a strong portfolio.

I am lucky that my children are not fixated about any particular Uni course (say med or law). If not, there is no way to get away from competitive stress for coveted courses.

[Imp75]

With a lot of emphasis on STEM in sec Sch in recent years, it may come as no surprise that NUS Sch of Computing may become the hottest sought after course with AAA/A as well. With skill sets from Sch of Computing, one’s career choices could be very varied and salary also at a premium.

[bbbay]

For those keen to know more on what could be the considerations behind increasing medical students intake:


https://www.reddit.com/r/askSingapore/comments/xuibgw/why_doesnt_the_government_just_accept_more/

[bbbay]

At my kid’s JC organised “ Ask me almost anything - My career” talk, one of the speaker is a doctor at KK hospital. She said if you want to be rich , don’t be a doctor. Choose a doctor career only if you see it as a calling. She said it is not as glamourous many as other think.

[lee_yl]

I have a doctor friend practicing in private clinic, same age as me, who bought a big landed all by herself. I joked that I must ask my kids to study med so they can afford to buy a big landed next time. She shot back at me saying, “study med only if you have the calling to save lives, not because of money.”


In my heart I was thinking, “ya, ya, save rich Indonesians lives…”

[Imp75]

Yeah it’s quite a sad thing that good specialists after a while moved on to set up their own private clinics, what’s remaining in the public hospital system is really inexperienced specialist/doc so we are forced to visit private specialists. Reason for the doctor to move is very obvious. mOH should think about this attrition rate losing talent to private sector.

[doodbug]

usaik881\" post_id=\"2127733\" time=\"1705977577\" user_id=\"199461:

Those who desire “immediate” big dollars “upon graduation” should not go into medicine. (Per EDMW criterion, big dollar is S$20k pm gross.)

DS1 and DS2 went to medical school. DS3 did not. DS3 took Natural Science in Cambridge.

DS1 was paid S$3,650 pm as HO. DS2 was paid S$4,000 pm as HO. Upon completion of HO, DS1 was promoted to MO with a basic pay of S$4,550 pm. For DS2, it was S$4,700 pm. DS3 was recruited by a USA financial institution in London while still in the 3rd year. Upon graduation, due to Brexit, DS3 converted the London contract to a Singapore one. DS3 was paid over S$10k pm basic. (Even after the bond period is over, the basic pay of DS1 is still lagging that of DS3, by a very big margin.)

Moreover, the hours for junior doctors in local public hospitals are very long. There are also on call duties. During festive seasons such as Christmas, CNY, and such, it is rare to have all 3 gathered together. Even after the basic medical degree, further specialized training entails more exams, as if student life never ends.

Mockers ask, so don’t study medicine? No. That is not what we have said.

Thank you for your sharing! It brings a lot of perspective to Medicine, which many parents have a very very starry-eyed view of this profession. Do also share about the subsequent competition into popular residency trainings etc.

That said, if one is not a terribly ambitious doctor, I would say, a Medicine career is great for a mother who wishes to take time off for kids, or to locum.

On your DS3 who got into NatSci - I take my hat off to him. He must be outstanding. In my humble opinion, it's one of the absolute hardest undergraduate degrees out there in the world - it's so hard to get in and you must be strong across the Sciences. But the cross training is good - and the top firms in the US/UK do recognize it not for the content (but they know entry to Cambridge NatSci is tough and the degree gives a solid training of the mind), somewhat in the same way firms do recognize the value of the Oxford PPE training.