Dr Tan See Leng was the Group CEO and Managing Director of Parkway Holdings and Parkway Pantai Limited. From 2014 to 2019, he was also the CEO and MD of IHH Healthcare Bhd. Mount Elizabeth Orchard and Novena, Gleneagles and Parkway East Hospitals are under the group.
Dr Tan See Leng used to phase out older workers in Parkway Pantai every year in the name of rejuvenation, but it was mere cost cutting while he took home an annual salary of $11.9 million, including bonuses.
Based on my experience with doctors (including surgeons), the younger clinicians in the public sector are trained in the latest techniques, while some of the older private specialists at Mount E and Gleneagles are still stuck in the 1980s and 90s.Public hospitals may be cheaper, but considering the kind of doctors they are recruiting these days, do you really want to risk your health and well being?
I consulted a renowned orthopaedic surgeon recently who graduated in 1990. He still performs surgeries at the age of 60, even though he has a few younger surgeons in their 50s in his group practice. However, many of these older specialists run solo private practices.
Only 300 students graduate from the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme at NUS each year. Of that figure, a mere 60 - 90 end up as specialists. An even smaller number become specialists in the private sector, which is pretty saturated these days. These are the "creme de la creme" or the most excellent or skilled doctors. Of course the absolute top tier will command wages that the rest do not.
Parkway Pantai enjoys an oligopoly as far as private hospitals in S'pore are concerned, so the group has been responsible for some of the worst abuses of the free market system in healthcare in this country.
