Singapore wants British medical professionals
20 October 2014
Singapore has one of the best healthcare systems in the world and wants British medical professionals to add to its talent pool, Changi General Hospital chief executive Dr Lee Chien Earn told Recruiter.
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 | By Sarah Marquet
Singapore has one of the best healthcare systems in the world and wants British medical professionals to add to its talent pool, Changi General Hospital chief executive Dr Lee Chien Earn told Recruiter.
He was in London last week to attend the British Medical Jobs fair where he talked to healthcare professionals about the benefits of working in Singapore.
He told Recruiter one of the challenges in staffing his hospital was “sometimes getting people to come to Singapore because we’re a small island, and that’s why we’re here [at the BMJ careers fair]”.
As a lot of Singaporean medical professionals were trained in the UK, the skills of British professionals were easily transferrable.
He said Singapore traditionally relied on both local and foreign talent pools. There are 26 different nationalities working in Changi Hospital, for example.
In addition, the healthcare industry was expanding to help care for an ageing population. He said it was the fastest ageing population in the world.
“And the healthcare system has to adapt to that; overseas doctors are going to help us with that.”
He said there were 40,000 healthcare professionals working in Singapore but to cope with the expanding and ageing population, the country needed an extra 32,000 healthcare professionals by 2030.
“So we are recruiting for the present but also the future,” he added.
The Singapore government is investing in six new general hospitals, four community hospitals and 12-14 government-run general practitioner (GP) practices.
Dr Lee said Singapore hospitals were great places for “skills exchanges” because of the “diverse population”.
He was in London last week to attend the British Medical Jobs fair where he talked to healthcare professionals about the benefits of working in Singapore.
He told Recruiter one of the challenges in staffing his hospital was “sometimes getting people to come to Singapore because we’re a small island, and that’s why we’re here [at the BMJ careers fair]”.
As a lot of Singaporean medical professionals were trained in the UK, the skills of British professionals were easily transferrable.
He said Singapore traditionally relied on both local and foreign talent pools. There are 26 different nationalities working in Changi Hospital, for example.
In addition, the healthcare industry was expanding to help care for an ageing population. He said it was the fastest ageing population in the world.
“And the healthcare system has to adapt to that; overseas doctors are going to help us with that.”
He said there were 40,000 healthcare professionals working in Singapore but to cope with the expanding and ageing population, the country needed an extra 32,000 healthcare professionals by 2030.
“So we are recruiting for the present but also the future,” he added.
The Singapore government is investing in six new general hospitals, four community hospitals and 12-14 government-run general practitioner (GP) practices.
Dr Lee said Singapore hospitals were great places for “skills exchanges” because of the “diverse population”.
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