SINGAPORE’S Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed that Malaysian doctors are among the international medical professionals the republic monitors for potential recruitment, though officials emphasise that locally trained physicians still make up the bulk of the country’s healthcare workforce.
Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said that while Singapore also draws on doctors from countries such as the United Kingdom and India, these foreign recruits constitute a small fraction of the overall number of practitioners.
“We currently have three medical schools. In the past, the National University of Singapore (NUS) was the only institution, but it could not produce enough doctors. So we established the graduate-entry Duke-NUS Medical School.
“We also created another school at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in collaboration with Imperial College. These three national medical schools now produce approximately 550 doctors annually,” Ong explained during a recent casual discussion with participants of the 17th Malaysian Journalists Visit Programme (MJVP), organised by Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Development (MDDI).
He added that many Singaporeans who are unable to secure places in local medical schools pursue studies abroad, and the country seeks to encourage their return to the national healthcare system.
“From time to time, we do recruit doctors from abroad, including from the UK, India, and Malaysia. They are only a small portion of the total,” he said.
Ong’s remarks were made in response to recent reports suggesting that Singapore had been actively recruiting specialist doctors and nurses from Malaysia.
On 30 October, Malaysia’s Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad had clarified that his Singaporean counterpart had denied any official recruitment efforts targeting Malaysian healthcare professionals, attributing such activity to private agencies.
“Honestly, I also contacted the Singapore Minister of Health. Initially, he confirmed that this was the work of private agencies. He himself expressed regret over the matter.
“Therefore, we will follow up with further engagement, as this is not the first time I have taken action,” Dr Dzulkefly said, highlighting ongoing concerns about the private recruitment of Malaysian healthcare workers.
The statements underscore the delicate balance between Singapore’s need for foreign medical talent and the efforts to maintain strong bilateral communication with Malaysia on cross-border healthcare workforce issues. - November 28, 2025
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