Singapore should be grateful to Malaysians
Malaysian doctor: Singapore should be grateful to Malaysians for its success
December 6, 2009
A Malaysian doctor by the name of Chen Jiayi who had chosen to return to Malaysia after working for a number of years in Singapore wrote in the Malaysian Chinese newspaper Sin Chew yesterday that Singapore should be grateful to the Malaysians for its success today.
Dr Chen did not reveal the reason behind his return except that “the answer would be revealed in time to come.”
When he first came to work in a Singapore government hospital as a house officer, Dr Chen soon realized that he was working with many of compatriots, some of whom are his highest level superiors. Even the Singapore Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan was a former Malaysian citizen.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the press that half the number of medical specialists at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital are Malaysians during his recent visit to Singapore to attend the APEC Summit.
The exact number of Malaysians doctors working in Singapore is not known. About 5 to 10 per cent of the each year cohort of medical students are Malaysians.
While some Malaysians graduated from NUS, others like Dr Chen join the Singapore public healthcare service after they finished their studies overseas when they are lured here to work.
Dr Che was told by colleagues that Malaysian talents were the most sought after in Singapore and it not a surprise as due to cultural similarities between the two nations, Malaysians find it easiest to assimilate themselves into Singapore society.
During his years of working in Singapore, Dr Chen noticed that young Singapore doctors are encountering difficulties communicating with the older generation of patients due to language barriers.
“Due to their educational system, the younger generation of Singaporeans are proficient in English, mediocre only in Chinese. For Malay language, they are largely outsiders; as for Chinese dialects, that will have to depend on whether their gandpas and grannies are still around.
As such, young Singaporean doctors face communciation problems when they encounter aged patients, resorting to hand language at times just to get their messages across,” he wrote.
As a result of a chronic shortage of doctors in the public sector, the Singapore Ministry of Health has turned elsewhere to recruit foreign doctors.
The polyclinics employ many doctors from other countries like the Philipines, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Indonesia, some of whom are unable to speak Chinese or Hokkien, the lingua franca of elderly Singaporeans.
Most Singapore doctors will leave the public sector upon the completion of their mandatory 5-year bond if they are local graduates unless they decide to specialize further.
The meagre pay, long working hours and job satisfaction are often commonly cited as reasons for their departure and yet little has been done to retain senior medical officers within the public sector over the years.
Dr Chen ended his letter with a smug remark that Singaporeans should be grateful to the Malaysian (doctors):
“The more successful Singapore has become, the more I feel proud of my Malaysian compatriots who have crossed the Causeway to serve in the Lion City.
But sometimes I would have this perverted idea: You Singaporeans need to be grateful to us, the “Made in Malaysia” yet forsaken lot, for what you have achieved!”
As a matter of fact, Dr Chen should be thankful to Singapore for giving him an opportunity to succeed in life. Had he not come to Singapore, he would have to serve his internship in a Malaysian hospital which is much busier before being packed off to a remote corner to serve a rural community for three years.
After working in Singapore for a number of years, Dr Chen will probably be able to retire in his homeland with little financial worries for the rest of his life like many of his compatriots who enjoy the best of both worlds by being a Singapore PR and Malaysian citizen at the same time.
temasekreview.com
