Debated in Parliament on 7 Jul 2014.
Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Minister for Health (a) what dollar amounts in pre-employment grants (PEGs) have been awarded to medical and dental students since the inception of the scheme; (b) how many medical and dental students respectively received offers of PEG; and (c) how many accepted such offers to work in Singapore.
The PEG was introduced in July 2010 as an additional talent recruitment measure of the public healthcare clusters to attract more Singaporeans from overseas to supplement the local pipeline of doctors. The PEG was extended to dental students in February 2012.
As at end FY2013, 438 medical students have been offered the PEG. Four hundred and sixteen of them have accepted the offer, three decided not to take up the offer, while 19 are still considering. Eleven dental students have been offered the PEG, of which, nine have accepted and two did not take up the offer. In total, $18 million has been reimbursed to PEG awardees.
PAPERCUTS