叶汉荣（杨厝港单选区议员）先生询问卫生部长：

(a) 有哪些策略可以确保公立医疗体系医生的高留任率，尤其是那些接受本地培训的医生？

(b) 卫生部如何确保各基本医疗专科和亚专科的人员配备充足，同时兼顾他们的工作与生活平衡？

(c) 随着人口老龄化，是否需要增加从海外招募专科医生，尤其是外科医生，以满足日益增长的服务需求？

王乙康（卫生部长）先生：公立医疗体系的医生，包括专科医生，经常受到私立医疗体系的诱惑。然而，许多人选择在公立医疗体系工作，是因为它的使命、学习和研究机会。因此，我们能够留住所需的人才，近年来公立医疗体系医生的流失率一直保持在 3% 至 5% 左右。

目前，我们拥有一支健康的专科人才队伍，可以满足我们的医疗保健需求。然而，由于人口老龄化带来的护理需求不断增长，一些专科或学科的需求也随之增加，例如家庭医学、老年医学、内科和康复医学，近年来，我们逐步增加了这些领域的培训人数。

我们与医院和高等院校合作，扩大本地医学院的招生规模，并将继续吸引在海外接受过这些领域培训的新加坡人回国，并在适当的情况下，用外国医生补充我们医院的医务人员队伍。

Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health (a) what are the strategies to ensure high retention rates for doctors in the public healthcare system, particularly those who are locally trained; (b) how does the Ministry ensure adequate staffing levels across essential medical specialties and sub-specialties with consideration for their work-life balance; and (c) with an ageing population, whether there is a need to increase recruitment of specialists from overseas, particularly surgeons, to meet the growing demand for their services.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: Public sector doctors, including specialists, are constantly subject to the lure of the private sector. However, many have chosen a career in public sector because of its mission, the learning and research opportunities. As a result, we have been able to retain the talent we need, with the attrition rate of doctors in public healthcare consistent at about 3% to 5% in recent years.  

Currently, we have a healthy pipeline of specialists to meet our healthcare needs. However, there are some specialties or disciplines with increased demand due to the evolving care needs of an ageing population, such as Family Medicine Geriatric Medicine, Internal Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine, and we have progressively increased training numbers in these areas in recent years.  

We have worked with our hospitals and Institutes of Higher Learning to expand the local medical school intakes and will also continue to attract back Singaporeans who are trained in these areas overseas, and complement the medical workforce in our hospitals with foreign doctors, where appropriate.