Singapore sees a rise in foreign doctors

 23-Nov-15, My Paper

More than a quarter of the doctors in the public healthcare sector are foreigners.

Image: ST / Yeo Kai Wen

At the end of last year, public hospitals and polyclinics had more than 2,100 foreign doctors in their employ and the number continues to grow as Singapore faces a shortage of trained medical staff.

Most are primary care doctors with only 477 foreign specialists, a spokesman for the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) told The Straits Times.

In contrast, the private sector had only 156 doctors who were neither Singapore citizens nor permanent residents, according to the SMC's annual report last year.

A spokesman for MOH said "Even as we grow the local supply of medical professionals, we will need to augment our local medical workforce with qualified medical professionals from abroad."

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