4/20/2019

Raising the quality of doctors

SINGAPORE: Starting 2020, the list of overseas medical schools whose graduates can practise in Singapore will shrink from 160 to 103.

This comes after the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) reviewed the overseas medical schools with registrable basic medical qualifications, it said in a joint press release with the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (Apr 18).

The changes come as the need to recruit overseas-trained doctors abates, with total annual intakes from local medical schools rising from 300 in 2010 to about 500 in 2018....

Responding to CNA's queries, MOH and SMC said that in recent years, it registered about 120 doctors annually who had trained at the affected medical schools. Of those, about 30 were Singaporean or Permanent Residents.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/moh-cuts-overseas-medical-schools-approved-for-practise-in-11459004

In recent years Singapore had registered about 120 doctors from the delisted list of medical schools or about 1,200 for a 10 year period or 2,400 if over 20 years. The big question everyone will be asking would be the standard of medical practitioners from the delisted list and whether they have compromised the overall quality of medical services here. Hypothetically, if the approved list is equated to be the A list, the delisted list could be B or C list. So those from the B or C list that have gone through the gates would still be practising here due to our shortages of doctors.

Hopefully all is well and there is really nothing to worry about. Oh, would India sue the Singapore Govt because not all Indian doctors would be allowed to practise here?

Apparently from the above step taken by SMC and MOH, not all medical schools are the same or of the same standard or standard that are deemed acceptable to Singapore. Would this reasoning be the same for all other disciplines like engineering, science, law, finance, commerce etc etc? Or the difference in standards in these other disciplines would not be too deadly compare to medicine so never mind? Would slip shod engineering work, architectural work, civil engineering or even finance be deadly enough and result in loss of life as well?

In the past, Singaporeans seeking a university education overseas would be very careful to identify only the reputable ones or those recognised by the Govt. This may seem to be history and nowadays everything goes as long as it is printed on good quality papers, would be acceptable in our globalised city where wildlife are preferred than the locals, where funny degrees from funny universities are seen as better than our world class universities, where many of our graduates from our world class universities are answerable or have to report to superiors with funny degrees from funny universities.

Should the Govt think that it is high time that it also do a spring cleaning like the SMC and MOH to list and delist universities of dubious credentials? Or the problem will be so humongous, especially with so many private universities commercialising education and selling degrees of all kinds here and all over the world?

What do you think?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

"it registered about 120 doctors annually who had trained at the affected medical schools. Of those, about 30 were Singaporean or Permanent Residents." - that means some of the sub-standard doctors from the now-banned medical schools have become naturalized citizens, and would stay here to practice permanently !

Anonymous said...

RB, I think this would not affect Doctors from India as Ceca will over rule the delisting. So no worry, we would have many more if not even more since the supply from other sources have been reduced. 😀

Anonymous said...

Yes the 120 shortfall will likely be made up from ceca source lar

Anonymous said...

Some of these India CECA doctors may become citizens, no serve NS, then become MPs to dictate to Sinkies . . .

Anonymous said...

Should the Govt think that it is high time that it also do a spring cleaning like the SMC and MOH to list and delist universities of dubious credentials?
RB

Govt can do that lar, but then Govt may not be able to get enough doctors to make up the numbers needed.

There may not be enough foreign doctors from universities of good credentials who want to work in Sinkieland, u know.

We already have quite a number of new public hospitals so need to get a lot of doctors to fill up with staff. Not to forget private hospitals may be getting the better doctors.

Anonymous said...

What's the problem for PAP if they can still win big in elections even with many foreign doctors from universities of dubious credentials serving Sinkies?

These doctors will of course not serve PAP ministers or MPs but most likely those subsidised money no enough Sinkies.

Some Sinkies die their business lah as long as majority did not die and continue to vote for PAP. LOL

Anonymous said...

Why cannot the local universities produce more doctors over the years? Why need a quota and resort to a need to import doctors from dubious universities?

By the act of reviewing and delisting about one third of those universities, does that mean the doctors produced by that one third of those to be delisted universities are now deemed to be sub-standard?

Are those doctors employed here over the last 10 or 20 years going to be deregistered to practice here, and how then are the shortages going to be remedied? Will hospitals and doctors in private practice be increasing their charges due to the shortage of doctors. I smell a rat nibbling at our medisave savings!

Who created this problem and is it not true that Singaporeans will suffer as a result of failed policies by the government by limiting the intake of medical students into our local universities over the years?

This piece of news must be a 'huat ah' occasion for GPs and hospitals, just like the war stock investor celebrating his fortune at the expense of the misery of others.

Anonymous said...

Why cannot the local universities produce more doctors over the years?
11:54 am

U want to know why?

Because doctors treat the sick, and for PAP's economic growth, there should not be too many sick people. And also no need so many doctors if there are less sick people.

Also if too many doctors, their high pay and prestige may also be affected. This is what happened when the govt produced too many engineers in the past. It is also now starting to happen for lawyers, with too many lawyers now.

For PAP, best is Sinkies don't get sick lah. And better still, those who are poor and sick should die faster so as not to burden the family, state or jeopardise PAP's GDP growth.



Anonymous said...

Those who are sick can still vote PAP. If they were to die faster, PAP also die faster because they lost their votes. Think properly first before wishing others to die faster.

Rightly, Heaven should punish those who wish others ill or die faster. That is called retribution!

Anonymous said...

Rightly, Heaven should punish those who wish others ill or die faster. That is called retribution!
12:24 pm

PAP may also have wished lar, just that they keep quiet, unlike Anon 12:09 pm who made noise here and got cursed by Anon 12:24 pm.

And don't anyhow ask Heaven to punish people lar, end up Heaven may punish u instead.


Anonymous said...

Those who are sick can still vote PAP.
12:24 pm

Possible, but they may be a small minority.

And luckily God created many, many more healthy Sinkies than sick Sinkies.

Maybe that's why PAP think we do not need so many doctors, and so that doctors can also have higher pay and more prestige.

Anonymous said...

My friend's grandson's overriding ambition is to be a doctor. He was a straight As student from a top JC here and his A level results were outstanding. But his application to study medicine at NUS was not successful. Is the calibre of these doctors from these soon to be delisted medical schools higher?

Anonymous said...

But his application to study medicine at NUS was not successful.
5:10 pm

There is an aptitude interview for applicants who want to study medicine at NUS, u know.

Maybe he failed the interview, that's why.

Those foreign doctors who were from delisted medical schools are given only provisional registration first, not full registration, with SMC.

They are observed and monitored closely during the provisional registration. This include having to do those routine, shift and unpleasant jobs in hospital wards. One needs to have the right aptitude to be a doctor, which can be tough.

Anonymous said...

Very Talented Foreign Talents Using Singapore As Base To Commit Call Centre Frauds

One very talented foreign talent from India has been extradited to USA to face charges in a call center fraud that scammed millions of dollars from victims in the United States, the US Justice Department announced on Friday.

Hitesh Madhubhai Patel, 42, of Ahmedabad, India, was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in a Houston, Texas federal court for his role in a case that was first announced in 2016, charging 60 people with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Patel ran the HGlobal Call Center, one of five India-based operations which allegedly worked together in an operation which targeted mostly South Asians living in the United States.

Callers pretending to be US tax or immigration officials threatened them with arrest and deportation if they did not remit money to the government.

The victims were then directed to people working with the call centers in the United States to collect the “fines” through prepaid debit cards or wire transfers, and the money was quickly laundered out of the country.

“This extradition once again demonstrates the US Justice Department’s unwavering commitment to disrupt and dismantle the India-based Call Center Scam Industry and to work with our foreign partners to hold accountable those who perpetrate schemes that defraud our citizens,” said Assistant Attorney General, Brian Benczkowski of the US DOJ.

Justice officials said that in the past six years more than 15,000 people have been cheated of over $75 million in scams in which callers pose as agents of the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Tax Agency.

"So far, in the Indian call center case, 24 domestic US defendants have been convicted and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. The remaining India-based defendants have yet to be arraigned in this case,” said US Justice Department's officials.

© Agence France-Presse

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