Health Ministry's proposed revamp will see their training cut from seven years to five
By
Judith Tan
To be specialists in one field, they must go through two to four years more of advanced speciality training, so it can take up to seven years to become one. -- ST PHOTO: THOMAS WHITE
SINGAPORE is looking to revamp the training of medical specialists in a move that will produce specialists in five years, down from seven now.
The proposed move will drop the one year of housemanship. This means that, after four years of basic medical training, young doctors will launch into five years of training in any one of 35 existing specialities. They will do this as residents at one particular hospital.
Under the current system, doctors must do four years of basic training and a year of housemanship.
Following this, all go through three years of basic speciality training from Year 6, during which they are rotated among departments in a few hospitals for exposure to medical disciplines ranging from cardiology to paediatrics.
To be specialists in one field, they must go through two to four years more of advanced speciality training, so it can take up to seven years to become one.
As at the end of last year, of the 7,841 doctors registered here, 2,962 or 37 per cent were specialists.
Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.
