It is significantly higher only for junior doctors. Once you
come to the consultant level, the pay is not much higher than that
in Singapore. For certain specialties like surgery, the pay is
higher in Singapore compared to the UK. The British surgeon is paid
the same amount as his psychiatrist colleague, whereas the pay
difference can be twice as high in Singapore. And you must factor
in the taxes and national insurance which will wipe out about 45%
of your income if you are earning a consultant's salary. There are
a few reasons why I am here for this period of time, but pay is
definitely not one of them.
I don't believe that Singapore's healthcare cost will be
blown apart that easily if you continue to hire locals. First of
all , it is pay per use - even for the poorest of the poor unless
they have absolutely no asset or children. Where has all the money
gone to?
Tell that to the Singaporeans and forumners who complain that
health care costs are too high....They want more doctors to cut
waiting times but do not want to pay more. If you raise the salary
of doctors in the public sector to retain them, will the population
understand? If the patients don't pay more then the government will
have to pay. If you want the government to increase health care
expenditure, then we have to pay more taxes to balance the budget.
Will Singaporeans agree?
Probably too many administrators. I remember watching
Yes Minister - the old British comedy about a bumbling minister and
his workers - they over employed too many administrators and had to
pay them instead of the doctors. So one hospital only had
administrators - no patients , no nurses. It was a good comedy skit
- abit of a deja vu but not that extreme.
That was true in the past. This Minister has changed it...he
ordered some of the non-core administrative offices closed and
outsourced many of the administrative and IT functions to private
firms with a great deal of savings.
In the long term , Singapore will find that all the
brightest and smartest have gone to greener pastures . Does nothing
but damage in the long term.
Anyways all I can say - the way I see it - Singapore is only having
short term fixes in policies to cover up the cracks . One day
,those cracks are going to be massive and will be exposed no matter
how much covering is placed on it - by that time , it will be too
late for Singapore. They hub so much but they never bother to build
on it - only moving to the newest fad ....last time was information
hub then medical hub now biomedical hub ...Hub this Hub that
...Hubba bubba...
Singaporeans are just paying for million dollar ministers to follow
the new fads ...oh wow ...might as well pay a teenager less to get
ideas out.
There are plenty of bright and able youngsters from China, India
and Vietnam only waiting to replace those that leave. It is not the
brightest who leave we have to worry about. It is those who cannot
go because their skills are not as marketable in the global
market...that is the problem.
Looking for new avenues of growth is essential. As China and
Vietnam develops, our low-value industries will gradually lose out
in the competition. That is inevitable. We have to look for new
opportunities, new growth industries to ensure our continued
prosperity. There is no other choice.
