I am a typical-armchair critic of Singapore's general policies. But there is one thing I have grown to appreciate Singapore ever since I came over - health care.
The costs of health care is a teething issue in Singapore and has been a source of debate in the parliament house, in the newspapers and at the local void deck coffee shops. What's indisputable is the quality of health care in Singapore (yes, there were a few wrongly-diagnosed cases but those are outliers).
There was a huge protest over the weekend by doctors (doctors? Doctors?). The introduction of a centralised allocation system to allocate junior doctors to their specialisation. Basically 30,000 junior doctors going for 22,000 places with their life careers determined by an Intel chip and a home-grown software. Even the government thinks it has done wrong somewhere but this new allocation system still went through.
How it works.
Until last year junior doctors went through three stages of training - pre-registration house officer, senior house officer and finally specialist registrar.
Under the government's 'Modernising Medical Careers' reforms there are now just two training phases - a two-year foundation programme followed by a specialist training programme.
After the foundation stage, the junior doctors will choose their area of specialisation and in the preferred areas for their training. They will submit an online application which makes no reference to their results or feedback from senior doctors. After that? Pray for an interview.
I had lunch with an ophthalmologist (Mr A), who is a soon-to-be specialist registrar. He shared with me this view on this system and I have tried to present them below as far as my memory can hold.
1. Junior doctors cannot re-apply for their preference once allocated by the system. As in Singapore and UK previously, junior doctors can always re-apply if they are not selected for the specialist training. Now in UK, it's take-it-or-leave-it.
2. As there are only 22,000 jobs for 30,ooo junior doctors, some choose to play safe by applying for specialisations which they think are unpopular OR going to certain parts (Mr A said God-forsaken) of UK where they have a higher chance of getting their preferred specialisation. But that means uprooting to go to Scotland for example.
3. Specialists having to train "new people" or "disinterested juniors". The senior specialist can previously use his sphere of influence to "enroll" interested juniors or use his judgement to determine if a junior doctor is suitable. Now even if he finds a highly-talented or motivated potential neurosurgeon, the system might think otherwise and may end up working with someone like me (I usually play safe).
4. Loss of jobs for non-UK or EU citizens. It's natural to give locals preference and I think that's fair. Even Singaporeans complain of "foreign talents", so it's only understandable that the system trends towards the UK/Europeans. Some of Mr A's Malaysians/Singaporeans colleagues have been told to leave, in full knowledge that they will not be allocated an interview or position. Some of them have been training for 5-6 years and is THAT close to becoming a registrar, only to be told that their contract will end in August-07 (when the new system kicks in).
So fellow Singaporeans, be glad that we have interested specialists in Singapore, available to us at an affordable cost (ignore fly-by-night Bangkok "specialists").
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