What are all the abroad practicing oppurtunities for a doctor after completing MD General medicine in India

hello sai reddy ,

The Singapore medical council has shifted from the UK type specialist training to the American 5 year residency training. So they take the MMed exams at the end of 3 years and the FAMS exams at the end of 5 years of residency.

Recognition of Indian medical degrees is a problem in Singapore. There are many Indians who have done post graduation in India and with post residency experience still waiting for certification.

For you to become a Resident Physician in Singapore the minimum qualification is MMed (“ your speciality”). So you would have to take their residency exams for the same. But your clinical experience in India would not be considered equivalent to experience in Singapore. So even after clearing MMed you will still be below a Singaporean Resident. As a Resident Physician your surgical privileges are restricted and always under supervision. The Resident Physician slots were created to plug the holes in the Singaporean Health System to take care of heavy patient loads in clinics. So you will see that all Resident physicians are foreign trained doctors from India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia etc and no local resident physicians.

To become consultant the minimum qualification required officially is MMed, FAMS and unofficially also British exams like FRCS, FRCOG, etc. Also you need experience at registrar level work for a few years. Despite aquiring all qualifications that is required many Indian doctors are not elevated to consultant level jobs as that is the prerogative of the hospital. Many foreign doctors continue as Staff Registrars or Resident Physicians despite not making consultant as salaries are quite good and better than what they would get in the home countries. Many have been disguntruled and come back even after 10 years of working there.

For an Indian post Residency -the options are:
1. General Practice-easiest and most profitable route. No need for MMed but you will never make grade as a specialist. Your MBBS needs to be recognized by the Singapore Medical Council. You need to go to the website to check if your university is one of the eight or so recognized universities.
2. Medical Officer- you may have to apply to departments of different hospitals separately-no need to do MMed but won't move up the grade unless you do your MMed.
3. Resident Physician -need to clear MMed and as described above.
4. Sonographer - surprisingly many OBGYN's from India are becoming sonologists in Singapore.
5. Research Fellow- no need of MMed but no clinical work and you will be totally dedicated to research.
6. Clinical Fellowship - depending on the speciality may last from 6 months to 2 years. But this is a short term thing. They expect you to go back to your home country after the fellowship but there are doctors who try to get into one of the above roles after fellowship. I chose to come back despite them offering me a substantial job under special circumstances.

Among all the options only a Resident Physician route will give you any chance of becoming a consultant and that is also not a very straight route. Also when you go through this route your license is conditional and you cannot practice outside the sponsor hospital.

The hospitals in Singapore love American and UK doctors and they will accept them with open arms without as many restrictions as for Indian doctors. I thi