Will Singapore’s bid for doctors from India, UK, Australia lead to a ‘race to the bottom’?

There’s a campaign to attract foreign doctors to plug workforce gaps, but some worry about ‘fictitious’ qualifications and that locals will lose out

While doctors recognise that foreign staff are often needed to do harder roles, some warn of a potential ‘race to the bottom’ for wages and a build-up of resentment towards immigrants

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 8:00am, 12 Oct 2022Updated: 8:03pm, 12 Oct 2022

A recruitment exercise for foreign doctors has drawn anger from some Singapore residents, highlighting local-foreigner tensions and concerns about fake certification, although medics say that recruitment from overseas is a bitter pill Singaporeans have to swallow.

The tender, put up by the holding company of Singapore’s public healthcare cluster last month, sought to appoint a recruitment agency to recruit doctors in India.

The Ministry of Health Holdings (MOHH) has since stated that it plans to hire 180 junior doctors from India over the next three years, and that 90 per cent of junior doctors recruited annually were local.

The firm is also recruiting from other countries including Australia and Britain, the aim being to alleviate the heavy workload of existing doctors and bring in more of them to meet the city state’s needs.

MOHH also said it would take in candidates who have graduated from schools on a list of approved overseas medical schools with registrable basic medical qualifications under the Medical Registration Act.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x