HOUSE OFFICERS IN APPROVED HOSPITALS (Shortage)

Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health whether there is any shortage of house officers in approved hospitals and, if so, what measures are being taken to remedy this.

Dr Aline Wong (for the Minister for Health): Sir, house officers are deployed to public sector hospitals for the purpose of training so as to enable them to be fully registered medical practitioners. Over the last five years, the number of house officers posted to public sector hospitals has remained constant at about 170.

The distribution of house officers to public sector hospitals is determined by the number of approved training positions and not by service requirements. House officers, however, do contribute to service in the course of their training, such as performing night duties, and so on. To ensure that the service workload of house officers is reasonable, the Ministry of Health has issued guidelines to the hospitals to pool the duties of house officers with junior medical officers, when necessary.

Dr Kanwaljit Soin: Would the Minister have, in hand, figures to show how many Singaporeans who go abroad to study medicine come back to do their housemanship in Singapore for the last three years?

Dr Aline Wong: I do not have the figures on Singaporeans who come back to do housemanship for the last three years.