Actually for a gp practice, 600 patients a month is considered a small practice, and if it is in a high cost environment, after deducting running expenses including staffing, there may not be much left over......

It would however, be a busy practice in a specialist setting.....

Remember running cost is a fixed cost, no matter how busy or light the practice is.....there is a breakeven point, which will vary.....so for most gp practices, at current charge levels, the first 10 to 20 patients may be just paying for rent, salaries etc....

mMA II am referring to per day basis....if the overheads per day is more than 20 patients' income, it's a too high cost location, and not worth running the clinic......

and you would extrapolate sunway to the rest of the country?.....

even in sunway, i would suggest you choose a different gp....there are lots charging half of that.....

it's just like extrapolating susan lim to the rest of singapore....

your examples are all skews, and not representative....

any insurance associated charge is going to be FULL, unless there is a specific agreement with a particular insurer...

we are talking gp.....don't confuse with specialist and private hospitals....you actually expect to see a specialist in kpj and pay gp rates?.....

and we are talking about consultation fees, with cheap generic medications....if you are walking out with rm50 antibiotics, you expect to still pay 50?.....

like most people, you are confusing doctors' fees with hospital charges.....

doctors's fees are fixed by the PHFA 2005, based on the MMA 4TH schedule of fees 2002, based on cost computation in 2000...it has NOT changed for 13 years.....

private hospitals and medication cost is unregulated, and has gone up 2-4X in that same period of time......

which tree should you think you be barking up to?.....

consultation charge is not time based.....if the consult is 2 hrs, it's still the same charge....

but if consumers prefer it to be time based, like some lawyers, i am sure doctors are only too happy to oblige....

there is nothing defensive, how did i twist around?....

what i have stated are facts, the info are in the public domain...

what you alleged are just allegations....so i need to set the record right....i have told you there are gp in sunway area charging rm50....it's up to you to find them....even if some charge 100, look at the drugs and calculate what they cost.....

if the gp are charging within the phfa, how are they 'exploiting' public?....if they exceed, make a complain...

this discussion is based on a letter by a gp on what the cost of running a practice is, NOT about how expensive healthcare has become due to doctors exploiting public.....

when your relative graduates and decides to become a gp, perhaps, reality will strike....

this is a medical student thread....so in addition to what you can read in pagalavan's blog, you students, in future, will have to face this sort of thing regularly....

the majority of you will be good conscientious doctors....but will face a public suspicious and distrusting of you, and face such complains regularly....

in the public service, you will face complains of poor service and incompetence...

in private practice, you will face complains of excessive charging...even if you comply with all regulations....

and you will often find a more satisfactory work in rural areas, where people are more appreciative, and you may still get offerings of a chicken from grateful patients and relatives.....

that gp will presumably be seeing more than 600 patients a month......

many new gp clinics do not....

it is important to make potential students get a reality check....they see what you see now....but reality will be different in the immediate future...

what you see now is conditions when there was <1000 new doctors a year....if they have sent children overseas, they are in their 50's, and graduated ~30 years ago.....

we don't know how conditions will be in the future when there will be 6-7000 new doctors a year.....but it is not difficult to guess.....just talk to any gp who opened clinic within the last 2 years....instead of looking at people who did 30 years ago...

2012 was the last year with capped fees....

fees jumped 21% this year.....the total is estimated to be aud265k....with rising fees each year....

that is not correct.....

conditional offers are made on a*aa for the majority of med schools, with some still offering aaa........

and they are issued based on the personal statement, ukcat/bmat results and interview.....the forecast plays very little part....at best, it helps secure an interview....

This post has been edited by limeuu: Aug 26 2013, 08:20 PM

that is correct.....however, if you first do a bachelor's degree and then apply for a graduate entry place (quite a few med schools have this pathway, eg warwick, nottingham derby graduate school etc) you will still be considered...

there are enough students who can clear that high bar.....no need to bother with those who can't....

the strongest determinant of a competent doctor is still academic prowess.....all the med schools need to do is find a way to sift out the ethical/compassionate ones from that group.....

mr. kong is referring to people who retake their a levels....NOT applying the next year with your first a level results....

i think he is referring to those whose a levels results did not make the conditional offer cutoff of a*aa, in the hope that they can get better results the 2nd time round....

of course, if you ended up with 3a* and no offers, it would be logical to take a gap year and try again....

there was initial opposition to a private medical school, but it appears that has been swept aside, and they have gmc agreement to proceed.....

it is obviously designed for international students.....it is unlikely any local student will enrol, unless they have a scholarship, or rich parents willing to foot the bill....

the unusual start date of jan is obviously geared towards foreign students, as well as possibly some domestic students who have exhausted all standard avenues...obviously no brit is going for this UNLESS they cannot get a place elsewhere.....and the 4 1/2 year duration to ensure graduates can participate in the fy starting in august.....

This post has been edited by limeuu: Aug 28 2013, 07:26 PM

there is a website which lists the conditional offer grades of all uk med schools, unfortunately i can't find it now.....

what i remember from the list, which was based on the 2011/12 round (and the beginning of the a* grade which was first awarded the year before) was that while most med schools was still offering aaa, several have already started asking for at least 1 a*, starting with oxbridge which ask that for practically all courses....

i am quite sure this round (13/14), the majority of med schools will already be asking for a*aa....that is still a pretty wide net, encompassing about maybe 12% of all a levels candidates....

there will still be the odd low offers, for people they really want....ie with attributes other than sheer academic powess.....eg sportsman, musicians etc...

ah thanks....and it hasn't changed much, still mostly aaa....which includes the top 18% of all candidates.....

the ps, entrance exam and interview are going to be hugely important.....and they are going to find lots of people with 3a* and 2a*a with no offers....and i suspect few with offers will not make the aaa asked....

for prospective medical students who have poor academic results and a 'passion' to be a doctor and wanting to enrol in unrecognised med schools, do note that the new mmc guideline now prohibit such students from attempting the mqe if the don't satisfy the minimum qualifications for entry into med schools....basically, you pay for a useless piece of paper, you can never be registered as a doctor...

http://mmc.gov.my/v1/index.php?option=com_...=111&Itemid=161

it's about time....and i think it is still too lax....other countries restrict their med students to straight a students or >atar95....

the so called 'spend effect'....

but it's the same for all exams, and all selection process into higher education...in a meritocratic atmosphere, everybody wants to maximise return on their 'asset', ie exam results.....because that atmosphere accord differential value to all courses, a value which is real in society, whether in money terms or otherwise.....

it is perhaps less so in countries with broadly banded results, eg a levels in uk....and more marked in countries with finely differentiated results, like australia's atar rank and us's sats scores.....

Asia metro is previously known masterskill.....