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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Jul-11 12:30 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 8) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>16784.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Taipei frets over loss of medical staff
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Health-care workers are drawn by better pay overseas, including S'pore </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Ho Ai Li, Taiwan Correspondent
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->TAIPEI: Taiwan is increasingly concerned about the possible haemorrhage of its medical talent.
Mainland medical centres and schools dangled jobs, with salaries about 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than that offered in Taiwan, at a job fair for medical graduates here last month. Singapore's public health sector has advertised in Taiwan to recruit health-care workers too.
These latest opportunities for Taiwan's medical personnel have led Dr Yang Pan-chyr, head of the island's top medical school at the National Taiwan University, to warn that Taipei is facing a medical brain drain.
Ms Lin Hsien-ya, a spokesman for the 1111 Job Bank which organised the recent fair, said that over the last three years, there has been a 20 per cent to 30 per cent increase in the number of offers from medical institutions in Asia to hire medical personnel, including doctors and health administrators, from Taiwan.
Taiwanese medical workers are seen as value for money, as they cost less compared with those from the United States or Europe, but boast of higher standards than their peers from places like China, said Ms Lin.
Doctors earn an average monthly gross salary of NT$125,090 (S$5,630), according to data for 2006. Their counterparts in the US earn about twice as much.
'There's been a loss of medical talent as Taiwan's medical standards have reached a certain standard in Asia,' she told The Straits Times.
Mainland China is especially keen to recruit from Taiwan, given that they share the same language and culture.
Dr Cheng Bor-chih, 50, a leading heart doctor at Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan, said he has heard of Taiwanese eye doctors who have gone to mainland China to work. But he does not know the exact numbers.
Checks with hospitals and the Taiwan Medical Association did not turn up any figures on Taiwanese health-care personnel working overseas. Nor does the Health Ministry keep track of this.
About 1,000 students graduate from medical schools in Taiwan each year, and there are 35,849 doctors practising Western medicine in Taiwan, according to 2007 statistics from the Health Ministry.
Singapore is also keen on recruiting health-care workers from Taiwan.
Contact Singapore, representing groups like SingHealth and the National Healthcare Group, advertised in Taiwan newspapers last month to recruit physiotherapists, pharmacists, dieticians, occupational therapists and medical social workers.
A spokesman for Contact Singapore told The Straits Times that it sought to 'attract talent to fill skill gaps in key sectors such as health care, which will in turn help the sector to grow'.
Contact Singapore did not disclose if this was the first time it was hiring health-care workers from Taiwan, or how many they hoped to hire.
With an ageing population and ambitions to be a medical tourism hub, Singapore has been stepping up its recruitment of health-care professionals.
Mr C.H. Chiang, 28, a Taiwanese who works in Singapore as a physiotherapist, said that one could draw a salary of $2,600 a month in Singapore, compared with about $1,800 in Taiwan.
He said that while many Taiwanese may be drawn by the higher pay, the average Taiwanese is not very fluent in English and that could be a stumbling block.
Also, not many Taiwan universities' medical degrees are recognised in Singapore and applicants might have to take additional licensing tests, he said.
'But we have one strong point, in that we can speak Hokkien,' he added.
Taiwan, well-regarded for its treatment of diseases like liver illnesses, is also eager to grow its health-care business.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Health-care workers are drawn by better pay overseas, including S'pore </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Ho Ai Li, Taiwan Correspondent
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->TAIPEI: Taiwan is increasingly concerned about the possible haemorrhage of its medical talent.
Mainland medical centres and schools dangled jobs, with salaries about 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than that offered in Taiwan, at a job fair for medical graduates here last month. Singapore's public health sector has advertised in Taiwan to recruit health-care workers too.
These latest opportunities for Taiwan's medical personnel have led Dr Yang Pan-chyr, head of the island's top medical school at the National Taiwan University, to warn that Taipei is facing a medical brain drain.
Ms Lin Hsien-ya, a spokesman for the 1111 Job Bank which organised the recent fair, said that over the last three years, there has been a 20 per cent to 30 per cent increase in the number of offers from medical institutions in Asia to hire medical personnel, including doctors and health administrators, from Taiwan.
Taiwanese medical workers are seen as value for money, as they cost less compared with those from the United States or Europe, but boast of higher standards than their peers from places like China, said Ms Lin.
Doctors earn an average monthly gross salary of NT$125,090 (S$5,630), according to data for 2006. Their counterparts in the US earn about twice as much.
'There's been a loss of medical talent as Taiwan's medical standards have reached a certain standard in Asia,' she told The Straits Times.
Mainland China is especially keen to recruit from Taiwan, given that they share the same language and culture.
Dr Cheng Bor-chih, 50, a leading heart doctor at Chi Mei Hospital in Tainan, said he has heard of Taiwanese eye doctors who have gone to mainland China to work. But he does not know the exact numbers.
Checks with hospitals and the Taiwan Medical Association did not turn up any figures on Taiwanese health-care personnel working overseas. Nor does the Health Ministry keep track of this.
About 1,000 students graduate from medical schools in Taiwan each year, and there are 35,849 doctors practising Western medicine in Taiwan, according to 2007 statistics from the Health Ministry.
Singapore is also keen on recruiting health-care workers from Taiwan.
Contact Singapore, representing groups like SingHealth and the National Healthcare Group, advertised in Taiwan newspapers last month to recruit physiotherapists, pharmacists, dieticians, occupational therapists and medical social workers.
A spokesman for Contact Singapore told The Straits Times that it sought to 'attract talent to fill skill gaps in key sectors such as health care, which will in turn help the sector to grow'.
Contact Singapore did not disclose if this was the first time it was hiring health-care workers from Taiwan, or how many they hoped to hire.
With an ageing population and ambitions to be a medical tourism hub, Singapore has been stepping up its recruitment of health-care professionals.
Mr C.H. Chiang, 28, a Taiwanese who works in Singapore as a physiotherapist, said that one could draw a salary of $2,600 a month in Singapore, compared with about $1,800 in Taiwan.
He said that while many Taiwanese may be drawn by the higher pay, the average Taiwanese is not very fluent in English and that could be a stumbling block.
Also, not many Taiwan universities' medical degrees are recognised in Singapore and applicants might have to take additional licensing tests, he said.
'But we have one strong point, in that we can speak Hokkien,' he added.
Taiwan, well-regarded for its treatment of diseases like liver illnesses, is also eager to grow its health-care business.
[email protected]
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