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Easier to bring in foreign-trained docs
Easing of rules on supervision helps address shortage
By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110325/ST_IMAGES_SKSUPE26.jpg
Registrar Chua Ying Ying, 32, and supervising medical officer Rakesh Kumar, 26 from India, at SGH. From this year, registrars in public hospitals can supervise doctors in their first or second year of practice here. -- ST PHOTO: RAJ NADARAJAN
THE critical shortage of doctors here in the last few years has led to massive recruitment of foreign-trained doctors - and a headache in terms of supervision.
Singapore requires all such doctors, no matter how experienced or qualified, to undergo a few years of supervision so they are 'broken into' practising under local conditions.
But with more than half the new doctors employed coming from overseas since 2005, getting enough senior doctors to oversee them has become a challenge.
On top of this, fresh graduates are being minted by both the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. These new doctors also need to undergo a period of supervision.
The two schools added 315 newly-graduated doctors to the pool of supervisees last year, up from 238 six years ago.
The Singapore Medical Council (SMC) has now made changes to the supervisory requirements to make it easier for hospitals to bring in foreign-trained doctors.
It now allows registrars, or trainee specialists, to help with the supervising. From this year, registrars at public hospitals can supervise doctors in their first or second year of practice here.
Secondly, the supervisor-to-supervisee ratio has been relaxed to allow consultants to take more newbies under their wing - in some cases, as much as 50 per cent more.
A third change to the rules lies in putting capable foreign-trained doctors on a fast track, so they can operate independently sooner. The initial period of more intensive supervision, for example, has been halved to six months for them.
Taking more new and foreign-trained doctors through their maiden years faster is an objective that has taken on fresh urgency, given that two more public hospitals and at least one private one will open this decade.
The numbers show the step-up in pace of recruitment of foreign-trained doctors to plug the severe shortage of doctors here:
In the three years from 2007 to 2009, the number of doctors increased by 1,392 to more than 8,300. This is a huge jump over the 639 new doctors registered in the three years from 2004 to 2006.
Half the 1,392 were trained overseas.
The supervisor-to-supervisee ratio set by the SMC, the body that registers doctors here, has sometimes been a road-block in recent years.
Clinical Associate Professor Lim Tock Han, the assistant chief executive officer for education in the National Healthcare Group, said: 'Sometimes, we've got a position, but we can't hire a good foreign-trained doctor because we don't have enough supervisors.'
As at the end of last year, 1,257 foreign-trained doctors needed supervision, compared to just 482 in December 2004.
Asked about the changes, a spokesman for the SMC said the council believed it was time to make the changes, given the growing pool of foreign-trained doctors.
Most doctors The Straits Times spoke to welcomed the changes and did not think it would affect the quality of training these doctors get.
Associate Professor Ng Kee Chong of KK Women's and Children's Hospital and Professor Ng Han Seong of Singapore General Hospital, for example, said having a larger pool of supervisors will give them more time with each supervisee.
Singapore is not alone in having trouble finding enough qualified doctors to supervise their less-experienced colleagues. Australia has warned its foreign medical students graduating next year that they may be unable to land internships.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has been quick to lay out a welcome mat for them to intern here.
The relaxed rules on supervision will pave the way for this.
[email protected]
Easing of rules on supervision helps address shortage
By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110325/ST_IMAGES_SKSUPE26.jpg
Registrar Chua Ying Ying, 32, and supervising medical officer Rakesh Kumar, 26 from India, at SGH. From this year, registrars in public hospitals can supervise doctors in their first or second year of practice here. -- ST PHOTO: RAJ NADARAJAN
THE critical shortage of doctors here in the last few years has led to massive recruitment of foreign-trained doctors - and a headache in terms of supervision.
Singapore requires all such doctors, no matter how experienced or qualified, to undergo a few years of supervision so they are 'broken into' practising under local conditions.
But with more than half the new doctors employed coming from overseas since 2005, getting enough senior doctors to oversee them has become a challenge.
On top of this, fresh graduates are being minted by both the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. These new doctors also need to undergo a period of supervision.
The two schools added 315 newly-graduated doctors to the pool of supervisees last year, up from 238 six years ago.
The Singapore Medical Council (SMC) has now made changes to the supervisory requirements to make it easier for hospitals to bring in foreign-trained doctors.
It now allows registrars, or trainee specialists, to help with the supervising. From this year, registrars at public hospitals can supervise doctors in their first or second year of practice here.
Secondly, the supervisor-to-supervisee ratio has been relaxed to allow consultants to take more newbies under their wing - in some cases, as much as 50 per cent more.
A third change to the rules lies in putting capable foreign-trained doctors on a fast track, so they can operate independently sooner. The initial period of more intensive supervision, for example, has been halved to six months for them.
Taking more new and foreign-trained doctors through their maiden years faster is an objective that has taken on fresh urgency, given that two more public hospitals and at least one private one will open this decade.
The numbers show the step-up in pace of recruitment of foreign-trained doctors to plug the severe shortage of doctors here:
In the three years from 2007 to 2009, the number of doctors increased by 1,392 to more than 8,300. This is a huge jump over the 639 new doctors registered in the three years from 2004 to 2006.
Half the 1,392 were trained overseas.
The supervisor-to-supervisee ratio set by the SMC, the body that registers doctors here, has sometimes been a road-block in recent years.
Clinical Associate Professor Lim Tock Han, the assistant chief executive officer for education in the National Healthcare Group, said: 'Sometimes, we've got a position, but we can't hire a good foreign-trained doctor because we don't have enough supervisors.'
As at the end of last year, 1,257 foreign-trained doctors needed supervision, compared to just 482 in December 2004.
Asked about the changes, a spokesman for the SMC said the council believed it was time to make the changes, given the growing pool of foreign-trained doctors.
Most doctors The Straits Times spoke to welcomed the changes and did not think it would affect the quality of training these doctors get.
Associate Professor Ng Kee Chong of KK Women's and Children's Hospital and Professor Ng Han Seong of Singapore General Hospital, for example, said having a larger pool of supervisors will give them more time with each supervisee.
Singapore is not alone in having trouble finding enough qualified doctors to supervise their less-experienced colleagues. Australia has warned its foreign medical students graduating next year that they may be unable to land internships.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has been quick to lay out a welcome mat for them to intern here.
The relaxed rules on supervision will pave the way for this.
[email protected]
