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This is part of an ongoing monthly series capturing the highs and lows of my life as co-founder of Noviu Health and doctor at Bartley Clinic, a Preventive Health & Longevity Medicine GP clinic in Singapore. If you’re interested in getting answers to doctoring-related questions, check out my Chasing Careers series!
The month of Swift mania is drawing to a close, and I’ll remember this month All Too Well (10 Minute Version) for years to come. February passed in a lavender haze of getting hyped for The Eras Tour and making a ton of friendship bracelets with my mum, then I spent the first third of March living my best life as a diehard Swiftie* and was buried in work & MBA studies for the rest of the month.
*I attended 1 night of the concert, camped outside the National Stadium on another night, and live-streamed the other 4 nights. Now to wait another 2 months until she resumes touring.
In this month’s post, I’ll be analysing MOH’s recently-released statistics on attrition rates of doctors in public hospitals in Singapore, talking about the junior doctor situation across the causeway and sharing about a local health & longevity community that I’ve been working on growing over past few months (P.S. you’re invited to join our monthly meetups)!
But first, let me shamelessly show off my Eras Tour concert outfit and friendship bracelet collection!
Since it’s post-A-level season, a lot of locum clinic assistants at my clinic have been aspiring medical students looking for a taste of GP life and some extra pocket money. The other day, I had a conversation with a locum clinic assistant about her medical school application (she’s a reader of my blog), coached her on what the interviewers are likely looking out for and shared the realities (both the good and bad) of choosing Medicine as a career.
It reminded me of the times when I did job shadowing in hospital as a JC student. A few doctors would casually mention that it was a tough job with a long path to success and many sleepless nights, but their words clearly weren’t enough to dissuade me. I suppose that’s why I’m now so vocal and open about sharing the good, the bad and the ugly, so y’all can’t say I misled you or sugarcoated the med school/junior doctor experience. 🙊
the latest resignation stats
Earlier this month, my best friend sent me PAP MP Louis Ng’s Instagram post in which he asked the Parliament for statistics on the annual number and percentage of doctors who resigned from public hospitals (across various age brackets).
If you’d like to view the stats directly, here are the links to MOH’s website:
- Number and Percentage of Doctors Resigning From Public Hospitals Within Their Bond Periods In Past Five Years (4th Jul 2022)
- Attrition of Doctors In Public Hospitals (5th Mar 2024)
I linked the archived versions of all these links (instead of the direct links), to capture the information at the time this post was written
I’ve also taken the liberty to summarise the attrition rates of doctors resigning from Singapore public hospitals from 2018-2023 in the table below:
| Age / Age Band | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| 29 | 4% | 6% | 2% | 2% | 7% | 4% |
| 30 | 8% | 10% | 5% | 6% | 9% | 6% |
| 31 | – | – | 3% | 4% | 9% | 9% |
| 31 – 35 (inclusive) | – | – | – | – | 7% | 6% |
| 35 – 40 (inclusive) | – | – | – | – | 5% | 5% |
Before sharing my take on these statistics, I’d like to highlight a possible typo in the stats presented in the following paragraph on MOH’s website:
MOH only has data on attrition of doctors by their age. Over the past five years:
Number and Percentage of Doctors Resigning From Public Hospitals Within Their Bond Periods In Past Five Years (4th Jul 2022)
- Among 29 year olds, attrition rate went up from 4% in 2018 to 6% in 2019, then dropped to 2% in 2020 and 2021;
- Among the 30 year olds, it was 8% in 2018 to 10% in 2019, then 5% to 6% in the last two years; and
- Among the 31 year olds, it was from 6% in 2017, 9% in 2018, then 3% to 4% in the last two years.
Based on the first 2 lines of data, I suspect the last line (for attrition rates among 31-year-old doctors) contains typos for the years, i.e. it should be 6% in 2018, 9% in 2019. However I was unable to independently verify this information, so I left the numbers out of the table.
Anyway, it seems that the peak resignation rate is around 30-31 years of age, which is around the time most local medical undergraduates’ bonds run out. That’s approximately 6 years after graduation (since the bond excludes Housemanship/PGY1), assuming the guys deferred serving NS to after graduation (which counts towards their bond duration – lucky them!).
For postgrad medical students (Duke-NUS), depending on their age when they begin med school, they’ll finish their 4-year bond 5 years after graduation (also excluding Housemanship), so that puts them in the ’31 and above’ bracket.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, so I’ll include links to previous posts I’ve written about why doctors in public hospitals might be resigning: poor career progression, burnout, manpower limitations and the pursuit of better work-life balance or $$ in the private sector.
Instead of focusing on the people who left, what about those who stayed? Assuming about 50% of any graduating batch end up as specialists, there’s still a sizeable number of non-specialists remaining in the public sector, working in hospitals or polyclinics. Some of my non-specialist friends (who hate the idea of GP work or outpatient care) are considering continuing training in public hospitals under the Hospital Clinician scheme or signing on as Resident Physicians, both of which will grant them career progression, pay raises, and possibly training in specialties of their choice (but they still won’t be specialists).
Stats from across the causeway
The situation across the causeway is arguably more dire, or at least that’s what I’ve heard from some of my readers. Over the past 2 years, I’ve noticed a surge in messages from Malaysian medical graduates asking about life as a doctor in Singapore (for those considering relocating) or advice on selecting House Officer postings (for those who already applied to work here).
Their top grouses about doctoring in Malaysia are working conditions, salary and lack of equal opportunities. I often tell them that the work hours here are probably as arduous as in Malaysian hospitals but at least their salaries would be competitive and they would enjoy better opportunities.
I was curious and googled for resignation statistics in Malaysia. The results were startling, with this article stating that ‘more than half or 54% of the 1696 medical officers in the country left the public service sector in 2022, with wanting to work in the private sector being the main reason‘.
According to another source, this follows an upward trend of resignation over the past years, with ‘110 cases in 2017’, ‘168 contract doctors leaving the service in 2018, 475 in 2019, 511 in 2020, 768 in 2021 and 1,354 in 2022’. Quoting their government spokesperson, that’s a ‘1,131 per cent increase (in resignations)’ from 2017 to 2022. Yikes.
I stumbled upon this 2010 blogpost by Dr Pagalavan Letchumanan, a Johor-based Consultant Rheumatologist, and another post where he outlines doctors’ salaries in Malaysia. I’ll leave you to read both posts and draw your own conclusions (since I’d rather not comment on matters outside of Singapore):
For all of you out there; budding doctors, medical students, house officers and medical officers; the future is very bleak for the medical field in Malaysia. The oversupply of doctors will get to you sooner or later. My advice to those who insist on doing medicine for passion is to choose an undergraduate course that is recognised internationally. Then, pursue a postgraduate degree that is also recognised internationally. If not, you will end up with a lot of frustration in the future. Jobless doctors in the future will be a reality!
For Future Doctors: Housemanship, Medical Officer and Postgraduate Training (Part 3)
Don’t Die
I’ll admit that I’m a little overstretched these days with work and studying, but one event that I’m always excited to host each month is our local longevity meetup inspired by Bryan Johnson’s DON’T DIE movement!
We’re a diverse group hailing from all backgrounds and industries, and it’s a great place to connect with fellow health enthusiasts, biohackers or entrepreneurs. Our Whatsapp community has grown to over 190 members in just 3 months, and we’re trying to create a local health movement propelled by our members – join our Whatsapp group to chat about all things medical, supplements, fitness, etc. ☺️
This month, I co-hosted our fourth monthly Don’t Die meetup at Technogym – an upscale, high-tech gym that provides training equipment for Olympic athletes – where a small group of our members got to enjoy a quick workout on the newest Technogym equipment and mingle with old and new friends.
As a medical doctor who advocates for Lifestyle Medicine, I really enjoyed hearing about their needs-based approach to exercise. Some exercise to optimise their athleticism, some just want to stay toned/fit, while others use exercise to manage their health conditions.
Regardless of your goals, maintaining a basic level of fitness and mobility is important for longevity and maximising your healthspan (disease-free years). I used to be a very unfit couch potato but realised it was hypocritical of me to tell my patients to exercise more without doing so myself. So I’ve been going to the gym twice a week and attending dance classes in an effort to improve my cardiovascular health, and muscle/bone strength in the long run.
Always happy to chat if you’d like to learn tips and tricks to optimise your health, nutrition and fitness. Be sure to drop by our next meetup and say hi to me – just join our Whatsapp group to get updates on our April meetup!
That’s all for this month’s post, which I’ll be closing off with my song for the month, Miss Me Too by one of my favourite artists, Griff.
Now, I miss talking to the bathroom floor
I miss staring at the ceiling ’cause it felt so tall
I miss sleeping to the sound of the kids next door, I do
I’ll miss me, I’ll miss me too
And there’s just something so bitter and cold in the air tonight, oh
So if time is a healer, is there a waiting list I can find? Yeah
If you approve of my music taste and want more high-quality music, here’s the Spotify playlist with all my monthly song recommendations since 2021. Stay safe, stay sane (especially to my friends studying for residency/postgrad exams) and see y’all in the next post!
xoxo,
Faith
P.S. This blog is my passion project and is entirely self-funded, so if you enjoy my writing and want to contribute some spare change towards maintaining this blog, why not make a little donation here? 🙂
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If you’re interested in exploring my blog, click here for an index of all the posts I’ve ever written (travel, doctoring, psychology, random musings), or check out my most read series below:
- the Chasing Dreams series: a series chronicling my thoughts, dreams & changing ideals over the years (since 2018), including burnout, quitting the rat race, migration and trying to find my path in life
- the (not-so-definitive) guide to doctoring: Getting into Med School & FAQs | Surviving your Clinical Years | MBBS Tips | Life as a M1 // M2 // M3 // M4 // M5 during COVID // Life as a Doctor (monthly series) | Chasing Careers series
Chasing Faith and Love 