Anyway, since you people are so keen on Singapore, I thought I'd share some information regarding post-graduate options in Singapore. I recently attended a recruitment event organised by the MOHHoldings Singapore (I think they ran it in every capital city in Australia; and they'll be doing the same thing in the UK next month).

Health care in Singapore has undergone a major restructuring programme - basically public health care is now split among 5 health clusters, namely the National Healthcare Group (NHG), the National University Health System (NUHS), Singhealth and 2 other hospitals (Khoo Teck Puat and Jurong) - residency training will only be provided in the former three but more on that later.

The traditional system in Singapore goes something like this:

For specialists: medical graduate - house officer - medical officer - medical officer (basic specialist trainee) - registrar (advanced specialist trainee) - associate consultant- consultant - senior consultant (the whole process takes up more or less 8 to 10 years depending on the specialty choice)

And then of course you have the family physician/GP track which is considerably shorter in addition to a clinical research track.

Such a long training period would invariably mean a shorter career for full-fledged physicians, hence Singapore's decision to introduce the residency programme which is modeled after its namesake in the US. The new system will be implemented under the guidance from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) - now before you start salivating about the prospects of working in America after your stint in Singapore, the residency programme will NOT qualify you as a physician in America nor does the Singapore government want you to leave its system - "we don't need a brain drain in Singapore" as the recruiter puts it nicely. You will only be able to work in Singapore, and that is despite taking the same board exams that US residents take - a board-certificed physician who cannot work in the US.

The biggest advantage of this residency system is the ability to enter the programme straight out of medical school - straight into R1. Now, say if your first attempt at matching is unsuccessful, you can still be a house officer (PGY1) and then apply the following year as a PGY2 - of course your chances will naturally increase as you get better at what you're doing and you know more people in the system.

There's a lot more detail behind the whole application process - apparently they have to accommodate graduates from three different time frames (Yong Loo Lin, UK and Aus)

Oh and not forgetting remuneration ; while not as good as Australia, it is still much better than what you get in Malaysia. (Btw, the pay is dependent on your seniority, it doesn't mean that a PGY1 resident will earn more than a PGY1 houseman, so you won't actually see much earning potential until at least you're through with your residency)

House officers get a base salary of 3.000 SGD per month, locals get CPF while foreigners (mostly Malaysians anyway) get an additional 850 SGD housing allowance. House officers are expected to work 60-65 hours per week (surgical residents 80 hours +) and you'll probably get six or seven night calls per month (110 SGD per call). And of course you have bonuses, either group or personal and not forgetting ...................lunch money !!!!!!! (8 SGD weekdays, 12 SGD weekends)

PGY2s get a slight bump in their salary package, basic pay is around 4,000 SGD and you get 220 SGD per call.

Well, that's basically how the new system looks like in Singapore, it's definitely attracting attention among international students in Australia (Singapore may soon end its reliance on Malaysian graduates as it's looking to woo its own students back) Malaysia on the other hand..........