A Sponsoring Institution (SI) is an organisation (or entity) that has the primary purpose of providing graduate medical education programs. It assumes the ultimate financial and academic responsibility for a program of Graduate Medical Education (GME). Currently, there are three approved Sponsoring Institutions, namely National Healthcare Group (NHG), National University Health System (NUHS) and Singapore Health Services (SingHealth). Each SI is composed of various healthcare institutions, including national specialist centres and primary care clinics.

1. N​ational Healthcare Group (NHG):

• Tan Tock Seng Hospital
  
• Institute of Mental Health
• Khoo Teck Puat Hospital
• National Skin Centre
• NHG Polyclinics

2. National University Health System (NUHS):

• National University Hospital
  
• Jurong Health / Ng Teng Fong General Hospital
• St Luke’s Hospital
• Frontier Healthcare

3. Singapore Health Services (SingHealth):

• Singapore General Hospital
• KK Women's and Children’s Hospital
• Changi General Hospital
• National Cancer Centre
• National Heart Centre
• National Neuroscience Institute
• Singapore National Eye Centre
• SingHealth Polyclinics

Each SI appoints a Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) tasked to provide oversight and governance for all its residency training programmes. Each SI’s GMEC comprises the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) and Associate DIOs, Programme Directors (PDs) and Associate PDs, peer-nominated residents, administrators and any other members of the faculty deemed appropriate by the SI. 

The DIO leads the organised administrative system that overseas all residency training programmes in the SI. The goal of the DIO is to establish an educational experience that would enable residents to acquire the necessary competencies and attitudes in order to practice independently in their chosen specialty. An associate DIO may be appointed to represent various participating sites. 

 The PD is the person responsible for all aspects of the relevant residency programme. The PD provides the educational environment necessary to achieve the learning objectives of the programme. Associate PDs may be appointed for larger residency programmes. 

 Core Clinical Faculty Members (CCFMs) are individuals formally appointed to teach residents in their respective specialties. 

 Each SI also appoints Institutional and Programme Coordinators to manage administrative tasks related to residency training.

Programmes with Clinician Scientist tracks retain the educational requirements of the clinical track with additional requirements for research. Clinician Scientist residents are expected to complete an additional year of research which is built into the curricula of the advanced residency years. During the course of their training, Clinician Scientist residents are given the opportunity to pursue a part-time Masters in Clinical Investigation (or a PhD if desired). From 2015 onwards, the entry to the Clinician Scientist track will start at Residency Year 4 unless there are exceptional reasons. If you wish to apply for Clinician Scientist residency, please refer to the FAQs on Clinician Scientist Track​.

Graduates of Singapore medical schools and those with primary medical qualifications registrable under the Medical Registration Act (First Schedule) are eligible to apply to the Residency Programme. Graduates from overseas universities must secure an offer of employment as a doctor with MOH Holdings Pte Ltd (MOHH) first. If you are an overseas graduand or graduate and require more information, please email ph[email protected].

All candidates are expected to enter residency training at Residency Year 1 (R1) regardless of prior experience, programmes, and depending on the specialty-specific requirements for completeness of training.

Applications for residency training are submitted to MOHH through their online portal. A step by step guide is available.

After successful submission of your Residency portfolio, you will be invited to select your interview dates and time in a separate online exercise. The interview will be conducted using a Multiple-Mini Interview (MMI) format.

The Sponsoring Institutions (SI) also organise Open Houses to introduce their training programmes and get to know you better. Applicants submit the list of their preferred residency programmes and SIs in ranked order and the SIs submit the selected ranked applicants through the MOHH website for the national match.

The matching is based on your submitted choices during matching by matching your choices with the SI’s choices. Applicants are matched by their ranked order of programme choices and stops when a match is made. No match happens if there is no corresponding selection by the SI. 

You are advised to rank as many training programmes as possible to increase the chances of a successful match. The results of the matching exercise will be announced on the MOHH website.

Applications are generally evaluated according to a number of criteria including: 

a. Academic scores
b. SIP performance
c. Interview performance
d. Letters of reference 

SIs may also use other criteria when ranking their preferred candidates like clinical work experience and performance. Applicants should speak to the programme directors if they wish to know more about how the various SIs identify their preferred applicants.

The results will be released in March. You are advised to check the MOHH website​ and your email inbox for notifications.

Unsuccessful applicants for residency will continue in their House Officer / Medical Officer position. . Unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to apply again the following year. Their chances to get a residency position may increase if they show good promise or excellent performance in their work in their chosen training unit or posting.

Residency positions are limited and the cost of training is high. Your choices should be based on a seriously considered decision as the training position could have been given to someone else who failed to get the match. However if you wish to pursue a different specialty after you are matched, you will incur a penalty barring you from applying for residency the following year unless there are exceptional grounds and reasons for the change.

Candidates who drop out of a Residency Programme without exceptional grounds and reasons will not be eligible to apply for entry in the next cycle of the residency programme.

The residency cycle usually commences on the first working day of July of every year. You need five to seven years of residency training before a specialist accreditation.

There will be regular competency-based, formative assessments for all residents including annual In-Training Exams administered by the Academy of Medicine. All residents are also expected to sit for their respective in-training examinations. This will enable Residents and their Programme Directors and supervisors to identify areas for improvement. These assessments will also help to determine whether a resident can progress to the next residency year.

Residents in seven highly-subscribed and popular specialties, namely Dermatology, Paediatric Medicine, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otorhinolaryngology, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, and Plastic Surgery co-pay a small portion ($450 per month) of the total training cost incurred. Such specialties were noted to have higher early attrition and since a significant portion of their training cost is from public funds, co-payment was instituted.

Yes. MOHH will be collecting a standard administrative fee of $100 per applicant. Payment is web-based, and incorporated into the Application engine and is required before you can complete submission.

MOHH will administer your contracts and other relevant Human Resource matters including leave, payroll, etc. The SIs will be responsible for overseeing your training and rotations throughout your residency. Residents do not participate in the Medical Officer Posting Exercise (MOPEX).

Depending on your period of absence, the specialty you are in and the point at which you left residency training, you may enter where you left off. However, if the period of absence exceeds the allowable period of leave, you are then expected to make up for the missing days of training or repeat the posting. Programme Directors may also impose a “refresher” period of training and an assessment prior to resumption of residency training if the period away is long e.g. after coming back from NS.

For doctors who have to re-enlist, they may undergo a period of Residency training prior to their re-enlistment (disruption of Residency training). Generally, re-enlistment for residents occur at the end of postgraduate year 2 (PGY2), which can be at the end of R1 or R2. At the end of the prescribed National Service period, one may resume where training left off. A "refresher" period and assessments may be required before a resident is allowed to join the next residency year.

National Service will not count towards Residency training. Trainees will need to complete the required training and acquire the expected competencies before they are allowed to exit.

MMI refers to a series of mini-interviews lasting 10 minutes each. It is similar to the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), and designed specifically to evaluate a candidate’s communication, reasoning, and problem solving skills that are considered important for any doctor commencing residency. 

Candidates complete a circuit of four mini-interview stations, rotating from station to station. Each station will assess a candidate through their response to a range of scenarios on pre-determined domains, namely: teamwork and collegiality, communication skills, compassion, professional and ethical conduct, and other personal attributes. One to two interviewers will be present at each station to rate each candidate using a standardised, annotated rating scale.

Together with the submitted letters of Reference (LOR), the MMI is intended to identify candidates suitable to commence residency training. It is not intended to identify suitable applicants for a specific specialty although some of the case scenarios may be specialty specific. Subsequent interviews to determine suitability for a specific specialty may be conducted by the Programme Directors in the respective SIs during Open Houses or other arranged meetings.

The MMI residency interview consists of four stations. Each candidate is given 10 minutes at each station: two minutes for the candidate to read the scenario and 8 minutes for discussion with the interviewer. Each candidate is expected to spend a total of 40 minutes to complete the entire circuit, excluding waiting time between stations.

Each candidate will be assigned to any of the four MMI stations/ interview rooms. Once the MMI cycle begins, all four interviews will occur simultaneously and candidates will move to the next station simultaneously once the allotted 10 minutes is up (two minutes for the candidate to read the scenario, and eight minutes for discussion with the interviewer). After all four candidates have completed the circuit, they will be ushered out of the interview area and a new cycle commences with the next group of candidates. Administrative staff will be at hand to facilitate the interview process.

Candidates are required to bring their identification documents (NRIC, driving licence or passport) for the initial identification. You are not permitted to present the interviewers with documents or written supplementary information such as letters of recommendation, CVs or academic grades. This is to ensure that you will be graded based solely on your performance during the interview. Please note that handphones and any audio/image recording devices are not allowed to be used at all times during the MMI.

At each station, candidates will be presented with a case scenario. These scenarios may be clinical or non-clinical in nature. Each scenario is expected to yield different responses depending on the candidate’s values and inclinations. The case scenario will generally be one to two paragraphs long. Interviewers may choose a free flowing discussion format or role play with the candidate.

Interviewers will be given specific instructions on what they can and cannot ask. They should not ask questions outside of the case scenario. They should not ask about your other choices of specialty or which SI you choose.

The interviewers will comprise of senior doctors from the Residency Advisory Committee and the Programme Directors/Core Faculty from the SI. There will be one or two interviewers at each station.

The interviewer at each station will give a score using a standard rating scale assessed on such qualities as ethos, reasoning and approach to the issue. The interviewer will not be privy to the scores awarded by other interviewers at the other stations. After the candidate has completed all four stations, the scores at all the stations will be added up as the candidate’s total score.

You will be allotted eight minutes for discussion, and candidates must leave the interview room when the time is up. Candidates and interviewers will be notified when they have one minute left to finish their discussion.

When there are no more questions to be asked, and the interviewer or candidate has nothing further to discuss, the interview at that station can be stopped. The candidate can then leave the room with the permission of the interviewer and remain seated outside until the 10 minutes is up (seats will be placed outside the rooms). Candidates should not converse with each other outside their rooms or share information about the scenarios, and must wait for instructions before proceeding to the next station.

The interviewer at any one station is not privy to the scores awarded by other interviewers at the other stations. The MMI gives the candidates a different assessment at every MMI station.

There is no need to prepare for the MMI because of its whole person approach. It may also test your professionalism, ethics and attitudes (e.g. how you manage a difficult patient or his relatives).

The scenarios are designed to better assess your responses to various situations that could take place during your residency. It would be better to focus on the question and answer sincerely rather than try to figure out the answer which you think the interviewer wants.

The MMI scenarios and questions will not ask you to talk about yourself but rather what you think or what you would do in a given situation and why. Candidates should be careful not to give pre-prepared answers as the scenarios are meant to test a spontaneous response.

The applicants will be informed of the venue via email.

You are advised to arrive at least 30 minutes ahead of your scheduled interview timing, and register at the registration counter at the venue.

You will be organised into your respective MMI group and be ushered to the interview stations accordingly. After completing the interview at each station, you are to proceed to the next station, until you have completed all four stations. Once your group has completed all four stations you can leave. 

You are to move briskly between stations and follow instructions given by the staff at all times.

Please note the timing at each station (10 minutes) will be strictly adhered to. There will be a timekeeper to signal the start and end of each interview session. When the time is up, the interviewer will stop the interview. You can leave the interview room immediately and proceed to the next station.

As the residency interviews (MMI) run on a very tight schedule, candidates must come on time for their allocated interview time slots. If a candidate is late, his place may be taken by another candidate and he will in turn be relegated to the next available round. Candidates who are unable to turn up on the day of interview may contact MOHH via email early, to make alternative arrangements where possible. Candidates who fail to show up for their interviews without good reason may be excluded from the matching process. A repeat interview will not be held as the scenarios will not be repeated once the cycle is completed.

The LOR is intended to provide information of the applicant's past supervised performance. Applicants are required to provide the names of referees who can complete an online LOR. In the LOR, referees will be asked their opinion on the applicant's overall performance during the time spent with them, including professionalism, conduct and character, clinical performance and procedural skills. The LOR and the MMI enables feedback from the work environment as well as interviews with programme directors and faculty to gauge the suitability of applicants for the specialty applied.

Applicants will be required to provide the names and contact details of the referees. Nominated referees will receive an email with a web-link to access the online LOR. The completed LOR remains confidential and the contents will not be known or made known to the applicant.

Referees are expected to provide information related to the period of supervision of work in which he or she can observe you reasonably in order to feedback on your qualities. They are required to strictly fulfil the following criteria: 

1. Have supervised or worked with you or have been your personal tutor for a minimum of three weeks, and
    
   
2. Is EITHER 
   
1. A faculty member of your medical school; or 
2. A Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, or Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School appointed clinical tutor; or 
3. At least a hospital registrar, or lecturer or higher.

All applicants are required to nominate up to four referees. Applicants are advised to seek the consent of their nominated referees before submitting their names. Please note that the referees have the same deadline as you do. So please nominate your referees early to ensure they have adequate response time.

The applicant: 

1. is responsible for providing the name and contact information of the required number of referees. 
   
2. can also monitor the progress of the LOR submission by logging into the Residency Portal. 
   
3. is responsible for ensuring the Referee has a reasonable period of time to submit, and subsequent submission of, the LOR.
   

While your closest junior colleagues may be able to provide an assessment of your performance, they too may be fellow applicants in this exercise. Referees must be at a senior level and have sufficient experience to make a fair assessment.

A Registrar is a designated position. Usually one must have passed an intermediate examination and have gone through basic specialist training before they can be promoted to Registrar. A resident physician or any other person may serve as a referee if they are Registrars.

All applicants, regardless of the specialty applied for, are required to nominate the required number of referees. This is because residency training is primarily higher medical training and will require, at the very least, some form of patient contact or clinical exposure or interaction with clinical colleagues. The domains covered in the LOR are applicable to a doctor applying for any residency training.