Diagnosis: A Golden Opportunity

For Dr. Amitabh Monga, an Indian national living in Singapore with his wife and two children, moving here was an opportunity to gain professional experience overseas. He came to Singapore in April 2003 to join the National Healthcare Group (NHG), starting out as a medical officer at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he continues to work today as a Registrar in the Department of

Gastroenterology. Before coming to Singapore Dr. Monga did his MBBS and earned his MD degree in

India, after which he worked for about four years at a hospital and research institute in New Delhi, India.

Dr. Monga first found out about the job opportunity in Singapore with NHG via a newspaper advertisement in Delhi. He applied for the job and went through three rounds of interviews in Delhi before receiving the good news that he was being offered the job. Before accepting the offer to join NHG, Dr. Monga had also

received an offer for a position in the UK, but he turned it down in favour of coming to Singapore. “Western culture does not really entice me, so I chose to come to Singapore instead,” explained Dr. Monga.

A warm welcome

Despite arriving in the middle of the SARS crisis, a tumultuous time for Singapore, the early days after his arrival here left a good impression on Dr. Monga: “The entire process of coming to Singapore was quite

smooth and well-organised. There were people from NHG at the airport to meet me when I arrived, so

I felt welcome from the start. They helped me find a house, deal with the formalities at the Ministry of

Manpower in order to get an employment pass, and even took me on a tour around

Singapore.”

While there are differences in the work culture between India and Singapore that took some getting used to, Dr. Monga took these in stride and quickly found himself adapting to his new environment.

“There is much more paperwork and accountability in Singapore compared to India, so I needed to adjust to the new procedures. It took me about 8 to 10 weeks to settle into the job.”

Learn from experience

For doctors overseas who are interested in coming to Singapore to work, Dr. Monga suggests that they visit Singapore first to get a feel for what it is like to live and work here. Arrangements can be made for foreign doctors to meet with local doctors to get an inside look at the local working environment. "It is important that

you know what you want in terms of professional development, work-life balance, etc., before you accept a job offer.”