Public Sector Doctors Leaving For Private Sector

9 January 2012

Question no. 79

Name of person: Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song

Question:

To ask the Minister for Health what is the average age of public sector doctors leaving for private practice and how this figure compares with that of ten years ago.

Answer:

The average age of doctors leaving the public healthcare clusters for private sector increased slightly from 35 years old in 2001 to 36 years old in 2010.  This is an estimate based on doctors who had indicated ‘joining private sector’ or ‘personal reasons’ as their reasons for leaving and excluded doctors who left due to transfer within public sector, retirement, contract lapse, termination of service, change of occupation, going overseas, family or health issues as well as those who did not put down any reasons.