http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,1870,99605,00.html?I read with amazing revelation on the ST Web edition that healthcare in Singapore has finally come to it senses and taking a re-think in the current cap on the quota of the number of doctors in the republic.
Obviously some proverbial scholarly individual got his or her sums wrong and thought that applying this cap on the number of returning foreign trained doctors would consummate in the realization of a perfect doctor to population ratio today. (Whooops Einstien!)
Since 1993, MOH drew up and enforced a list of about 20 overseas medical schools that were formally recognized. Coming from this list enabled the relevant doctor to register with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) and practice medicine in Singapore. Anything outside this list was short-sightedly deemed too ill fated and no practice license would be granted.
At this point, IÂ’d like to bring to the attention of the astute reader a small but significant discrepancy in the current light of this situation.
Say “hypothetically” I am a graduate from a university that is renowned for it’s medicine but not on that list of the 20 recognized schools. Bearing in mind that a long time ago that I did apply to NUS with my bunch of ‘A’s, but was brushed off as being still not good enough for the superbly world class institution that sits grandly atop of Kent Ridge. Being ghastly saddened by the prospect that I would be churned through the heartland building machinery of the great powers and saddled with the prospect of entering another profession that I had absolutely no interest in, I fought a long 3 year battle and finally proceeded into a reputable medical school that unfortunately was not on the esteemed MOH list.
Now please would some cerebrally enhanced policy making individual from MOH (who on the off chance might be reading this bulletin board list during official office hours) explain to me why your recruitment drives conducted overseas seem to be more “friendly” to graduates who are actually not on your list of 20 recognized universities. There have been recent cases where doctors have come from schools outside this list that are still given full SMC registration and working in the modern hospitals of our island paradise in order to address the current pressing need for more doctors.
Why the sudden change in tact and approach when exiles like us were written off not only by NUS but also to be shut out of the entire system by a simple list that was drawn up year ago in what proved to be a highly myopic white paper?
What most people would find even more disheartening is the fact that policy makers have decided not to come clean and say that they have made a “mistake” and come clean in the open with the situation on the table. Instead a so-called ‘back door’ recruitment policy has unobtrusively developed out of the public eye and order to address the shortage of medical professionals. Well perhaps this writer is asking for something impossible as revered policy makers are sure incapable of making mistakes in Singapore huh?
I can foresee that the immediate rebuke to not opening up the limited list of 20 schools is to prevent the floodgates from opening by having every parent send his or her child to any Tom, Dick or Harry university to return as a doctor. Well, for starters you could have a larger list of perhaps 40 schools and exclude the ones that are not too academically inclined in quality teaching. Furthermore, it takes 5-7 years to clone a doctor so youÂ’re not going to see overnight results anyway. Not all of us come back anyway....And by then, you'll need some research clnicians in your biotech laborotories et cetera...(u get da' picture)
Oh well, I have just about run out of the highest form of wit (i.e sarcasm) and will cease here before causing any more embarrassment for which a subpoena may be served on me unwittingly.
I do invite you to have a constructive discussion with regards to the points that I have raised here. I bid thee farewell and my best wishes in your strive to be a biotech hub.
Who knows? One day you may be able to clone doctors on demand and not have to wait years for one to be educated to serve within your whimsical rants and raves :-)