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Singapore takes a multipronged approach to workforce planning
Figure III.
The "Second Schedule" The Second Schedule • The Second Schedule MoH launches • Demand for
is amended for the expanded to expanded to 160 the Healthcare doctors is met
first time in response include 71 schools schools 2020 Masterplan by local capacity
to concerns over across 7 jurisdictions • From 2003, a series to set goals for • SMC reduces
doctor over-supply of six Amendments healthcare access entries in the
to increase the Second Schedule
number of schools
2001 2003 2009 2012 2019
1997 2002 2005 2010 2013
• Medical Registration Insufficient doctor Creation and Launch of the Pre- Opening of Singapore’s
Act created supply with only accreditation of Employment Grant to third local medical school
• The Second Schedule 24 recognised schools Singapore’s second incentivise students
for non-locally trained in the Second Schedule local medical school to return to Singapore
doctors introduced
with 29 schools
Sources: Legislative Council, 2019; SMC, 2003, 2021b; Singapore Parliament, 2018; Ministry of Health 2012, 2019
Singapore strategically adopted a multipronged approach and implemented a suite of measures to tackle its shortage of doctors.
Among the various levers, the Second Schedule was introduced under the Medical Registration Act in 1997 to safeguard the
quality and quantity of non-locally trained doctors practising in Singapore (SMC, 2021b). The Second Schedule lists non-
local medical schools with registrable medical qualifications and is periodically reviewed with consideration to the changing
healthcare needs of Singapore’s population. The Second Schedule has undergone various shifts in the listed schools, with
the latest reduction from 160 schools to 103 schools in 2019 (Ministry of Health, 2019). Meanwhile, Singapore has also been
boosting its supply of locally trained doctors by opening its second and third medical schools in 2005 and 2013, respectively,
and increasing annual medical school intakes. The impact of the latter is set to be realised from 2023 when the need for non-
locally trained doctors is expected to stabilise (Ministry of Health, 2019). A comprehensive overview of the initiatives towards its
doctor manpower planning by Singapore will be further discussed in Challenge 1.
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