SMSI Statement #1

Dear SMSI,

The release of the revised List of Registrable Degrees on 18th April has undoubtedly left major implications on the future of SMSI and its members. The committee had a meeting on the evening of 18th April to discuss various concerns and would like the share our progress on these matters.

1. Clarification on Point 3 of MOH’s statement
The point states “Singapore Citizen and Singapore Permanent Resident students who have already secured a place as a candidate in a medical programme from a school that is no longer on the list, or who are studying in the affected schools before 1 January 2020, will not be affected by the change.” There is confusion on whether students who accept their offers before 01 Jan 2020 but start school after 01 Jan 2020 (mostly in the case of NSF applicants) are affected. The President emailed MOH for clarification on this matter.

2. Concern about affected schools being disadvantaged during employment
We believe employment processes would be non-biased and graduates from every school would be treated equally. The President has nonetheless emailed MOH to seek re-assurance on this.

3. The future of SMSI
With the future intake only limited to TCD students, one of SMSI’s aim which is to bond students across the 5 different schools will be affected. However, SMSI will still continue to provide social, education and employment events for current members. The SMSI committee will be meeting again to discuss how SMSI’s structure and purposes would be adjusted in the long run.

4. IUMC involvement
Whether or not IUMC will be increasing slots to TCD or if IUMC will continue to be the main liaison for TCD admissions remain uncertain. We have reached out to IUMC for further clarification on this.

Due to the sudden timing of this news, many questions regretfully cannot be answered with certainty yet. SMSI is working closely with various parties such as MOH, IUMC and IGAS to navigate our way into the future. We understand it is a very unfortunate event for those affected and we are saddened that this has happened.

Again, we regret that we do not have the answers to every issue, however, do not hesitate to approach any committee member if you have any queries regarding the changes, we will try our best to help you.

Moving forward, we aim to remain transparent in our developments of this matter and will continue to keep you updated every time we receive new information.

Thank you.

SMSI Committee ’19/20