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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:07 am Post subject: Khaw Boon Wan- come back home medical grad please..... ..</TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap>
</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Apr 16, 2010
Grants to get medical grads to come home
By Judith Tan
SINGAPORE wants more of its overseas medical students to come home and serve in public hospitals facing a shortage of doctors.
To woo them back, the Government is looking to offer them up to $50,000 a year while they are still in university, to cover about 60 per cent of their fees in the last two years of their course.
Writing in his blog, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that the 'pre-employment grant' (PEG) would be based on merit and offered to students of top schools overseas.
He added that this initiative 'will cost more and whether it becomes sustainable will have to be tested out. As we ramp up local training and reduce the shortage, the scheme may hopefully become redundant'.
In return, the students will have to serve the hospital clusters for a minimum of about four years.
Currently, National University of Singapore medical graduates serve a five-year service bond, in addition to a one-year housemanship.
Mr Khaw said while the hospitals were still working out the details, key parameters would include having the grant target Singaporeans in top medical schools recognised by the Singapore Medical Council, such as Harvard Medical School, Imperial College and the University of Melbourne, and approaching students in the last two years of their medical programmes.
Professor Tan Ser Kiat, group chief executive officer of SingHealth, said the grant complements SingHealth's ongoing efforts to engage Singaporean students abroad.
'We are still working out details to develop a package that will be both cost-effective and attractive to top talent. Singaporean medical students who qualify for the PEG also have the new residency programme to look forward to, as it presents an additional opportunity for specialty training,' he said.
Mr Khaw first mentioned that restructured hospitals were looking into giving PEGs to Singaporeans studying medicine overseas during the Budget debate in Parliament last month.
In 2007, there were fewer than 4,000 doctors in the public sector. The number has since risen to more than 4,600 - a 25 per cent jump after ministry officials and hospitals wooed doctors from Britain, Australia and India to work in Singapore.
And in 2007, the ministry expanded its list of recognised foreign medical schools to 159, including many top medical schools in Asia. There were only 20 foreign medical schools listed in 2003.
Of the 4,610 doctors in the public sector, 1,663 doctors or 36 per cent were trained overseas.
The minister had, a year ago, said that to ease Singapore's doctor shortage, there was a need for a third medical school.
Adding to this, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen told Parliament last year that both the education and health ministries are considering a third medical school to improve the doctor-to-patient ratio and quality of health care in Singapore by 2015, when the two new hospitals are up and running at full capacity.
Already, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, at the NUS campus, is nearing its maximum capacity of 300 and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, which takes in about 50 postgraduate students each year, has still 'some way to go'.
Mr Khaw said then it takes at least 10 years for a new medical school to produce doctors.
Citing the 2009 Patient Satisfaction Survey, he said 'a long wait to see a doctor' remains a bugbear among the patients.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:07 am Post subject: Khaw Boon Wan- come back home medical grad please..... ..</TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap> </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Apr 16, 2010 Grants to get medical grads to come home
By Judith Tan
SINGAPORE wants more of its overseas medical students to come home and serve in public hospitals facing a shortage of doctors.
To woo them back, the Government is looking to offer them up to $50,000 a year while they are still in university, to cover about 60 per cent of their fees in the last two years of their course.
Writing in his blog, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that the 'pre-employment grant' (PEG) would be based on merit and offered to students of top schools overseas.
He added that this initiative 'will cost more and whether it becomes sustainable will have to be tested out. As we ramp up local training and reduce the shortage, the scheme may hopefully become redundant'.
In return, the students will have to serve the hospital clusters for a minimum of about four years.
Currently, National University of Singapore medical graduates serve a five-year service bond, in addition to a one-year housemanship.
Mr Khaw said while the hospitals were still working out the details, key parameters would include having the grant target Singaporeans in top medical schools recognised by the Singapore Medical Council, such as Harvard Medical School, Imperial College and the University of Melbourne, and approaching students in the last two years of their medical programmes.
Professor Tan Ser Kiat, group chief executive officer of SingHealth, said the grant complements SingHealth's ongoing efforts to engage Singaporean students abroad.
'We are still working out details to develop a package that will be both cost-effective and attractive to top talent. Singaporean medical students who qualify for the PEG also have the new residency programme to look forward to, as it presents an additional opportunity for specialty training,' he said.
Mr Khaw first mentioned that restructured hospitals were looking into giving PEGs to Singaporeans studying medicine overseas during the Budget debate in Parliament last month.
In 2007, there were fewer than 4,000 doctors in the public sector. The number has since risen to more than 4,600 - a 25 per cent jump after ministry officials and hospitals wooed doctors from Britain, Australia and India to work in Singapore.
And in 2007, the ministry expanded its list of recognised foreign medical schools to 159, including many top medical schools in Asia. There were only 20 foreign medical schools listed in 2003.
Of the 4,610 doctors in the public sector, 1,663 doctors or 36 per cent were trained overseas.
The minister had, a year ago, said that to ease Singapore's doctor shortage, there was a need for a third medical school.
Adding to this, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen told Parliament last year that both the education and health ministries are considering a third medical school to improve the doctor-to-patient ratio and quality of health care in Singapore by 2015, when the two new hospitals are up and running at full capacity.
Already, the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, at the NUS campus, is nearing its maximum capacity of 300 and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, which takes in about 50 postgraduate students each year, has still 'some way to go'.
Mr Khaw said then it takes at least 10 years for a new medical school to produce doctors.
Citing the 2009 Patient Satisfaction Survey, he said 'a long wait to see a doctor' remains a bugbear among the patients.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
