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It has become increasingly popular for junior doctors to work abroad after the foundation programme and before entering specialist training. This time out allows trainees to explore career options, creates an interesting CV, and can be a great learning opportunity.
Singapore is a cosmopolitan country and for many it is an attractive place to live and work. The country attracts a sizeable talented foreign workforce, and over 30% of doctors in Singapore are foreign trained.1
Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. The language of choice in business and hospitals is English, which makes the transition for UK doctors relatively easy. Language barriers can still be a challenge as many elderly patients do not speak English, but translators are available and many hospitals have in-house programmes to learn local language skills.
Singapore’s healthcare ranks highly in the global efficiency ratings.2 Around 70-80% of healthcare is provided by the public health system in polyclinics and “restructured” hospitals. Clinicians emphasise the use of evidence based medicine and generous grants are available for research, making Singapore an ideal destination for medical training and education. Two new medical schools with international affiliations (Imperial College London, UK, and Duke University, USA) have opened up lots of opportunities for teaching.
Applying for a job
After foundation training you can apply via the Medical Officer Posting Exercise for a job as a medical officer in Singapore. The contracts for these posts have a minimum duration of one year, with the option to extend this post or apply for the local equivalent specialist training. The application process is laborious but the staffing shortage in Singapore gives applicants a good chance of success.
The first step is to check whether your medical degree is recognised by the Singapore Medical Council. The council does not recognise all medical degrees in the United Kingdom for provisional or conditional registration (see box 1 for a list of recognised medical schools). Those with medical degrees not recognised by the Singapore Medical Council cannot apply to the...