MORE foreign-trained doctors are coming to work in Singapore as the number of medical degrees being recognised increases.

Last year, 190 overseas-trained doctors got jobs here, up from 138 in 2005. And 196 have already arrived this year.

From next month, 20 more medical schools will be recognised, bringing the total to 160 foreign institutions.

The additional schools should boost the numbers of doctors arriving, which would ease the shortage here. It is a problem the Health Ministry has tried to address by gradually expanding the list of recognised medical schools since 2003.

Speaking of the shortage of doctors at public hospitals yesterday, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said: 'We are doing a bit of catching up. I would need this rate of intake for a few more years.'

One effect of the move to increase the number of recognised medical schools has been 160 foreign-trained Singaporean doctors returning home to work since 2003.

Some of the returning doctors are those who wanted to pursue medicine, but were unable to secure a place at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Speaking after opening the Children's Cancer Centre at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) yesterday, Mr Khaw said: 'I've always wanted to get Singaporeans to return to contribute to Singapore.'

While NUS has increased its intake of medical students, and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School has started, the demand for doctors still outstrips supply.

Between 1993 and 2003, only graduates from 24 foreign medical schools could work here as doctors, unless they were specialists.

The number of recognised degrees had been slashed from 176 to 24 to rein in the number of doctors practising. The Health Ministry feared then that having too many doctors could push up health care costs if they generated unnecessary treatments.

But now, Singapore, like most developed countries, is facing a shortage of doctors, especially in the public sector. Expanding the list of recognised schools has resulted in over 700 more doctors coming to work here.

Since last year, Asian schools have been the focus. Of the 20 new schools this year, six are from China, five from India, four from Japan, two from Taiwan and one from South Korea.

Graduates from these countries are more likely to end up here, Mr Khaw explained. 'There's no point recognising some degree which doesn't yield any intake for us.'

Meanwhile, a new legal requirement in Britain to give members of the European Community preference could see thousands of foreign doctors, especially those from South Asia, having to look for jobs elsewhere. Singapore could be an option.

The two public health care clusters held a recruitment drive in India this year, and expect to see more India-trained doctors working here soon.

One of them is Dr Jagdish Shahani, a graduate of India's top school, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, which was recognised this year. He has worked in India, Sri Lanka, Britain and Australia.

Now working at KKH, he said: 'I've told everyone this is my last job.'

He added that he was familiar with Singapore, having attended conferences here.

Mr Khaw hopes that some of these foreign doctors would eventually take on citizenship, and perhaps also acquire specialist training in areas Singapore needs, such as cardiologists and oncologists.