Latest news with #brainDrain
Free Malaysia Today
10-07-2025
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
Singapore's direct recruitment of doctors a serious concern, says senator
Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran said a Malaysian medical officer with three years' experience only earns a gross salary of about RM6,000 per month or RM72,000 a year. (Reuters pic) PETALING JAYA : Singapore's bold move to hold direct interviews at a leading hotel in Kuala Lumpur next month for the recruitment of experienced doctors is likely to exacerbate the brain drain in the healthcare sector, a senator says. Dr RA Lingeshwaran said the latest advertisement by the republic's health ministry calling for walk-in interviews at Traders Hotel next month, offering an annual package of S$110,000 (RM385,000) plus housing and other perks, would surely attract Malaysian doctors. He said the salary excluded monthly accommodation allowance, insurance, and other benefits like on-call allowance. The doctors are only required to have a minimum of three years' experience at Malaysian hospitals and clinics. RA Lingeshwaran. 'What's more telling is Singapore's decision to open it to all medical degree holders without having to sit for an examination. 'Previously, they only recruited medical graduates from Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) directly. 'I think this will open the floodgates as the costliest expenditure in Singapore, which is accommodation, will be covered. The comments on social media by doctors are an indication that we are going to lose our medical brains,' he told FMT. According to the advertisement, doctors who qualify from UM and UKM can apply for the post of medical officer while others will be known as clinical associates with the same remuneration package. Clinical associates are foreign-trained doctors who are granted temporary medical registration to work in specific departments in Singapore hospitals. They perform duties equivalent to those of a medical officer or junior resident. Lingeshwaran, a former director of Sungai Bakap Hospital in Penang, said a Malaysian medical officer with three years' experience only earned a gross salary of about RM6,000 per month or RM72,000 a year. He said the health ministry should view this latest move by Singapore seriously as it would impact healthcare in Malaysia, which is already under stress. The senator said he had been informed by the dean of RCSI & UCD Malaysia Campus in Penang that about 40% of 105 medical students who graduated there last month had applied to do their internships in Ireland or the UK. 'They are leaving because the Malaysian system provides them with no certainty and support for their future. The unresolved contract doctor policy, lack of permanent positions, limited career progression and poor work-life balance are driving them away,' he said. In December, health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad was reported as saying that a total of 6,417 permanent and contract medical officers resigned from 2019 to 2023. 'The brain drain is not a drip any more, it is now a wave. We need urgent structural reforms to retain our talent, value their service, and give them a future worth staying for,' said Lingeshwaran.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
NASA reportedly set to lose 2,000 senior staff members as Trump looks to slash agency's budget
NASA will soon be facing a major brain drain as more than 2,000 senior employees prepare to leave the agency amid a push to reduce its workforce. Some 875 NASA workers are at the highest level of government ranks and in managerial or specialized positions, POLITICO reported Wednesday, citing related documents the website had obtained. Furthermore, more than 1,800 serve in mission areas, such as science and human spaceflight, and the employees make up the majority of 2,694 civil staff who have agreed to leave NASA, POLITICO said. NASA will not be releasing the number of individuals who take the Deferred Resignation Program before the offering window's closure on July 25. The agency told The Independent that it remains committed to its mission, working "within a more prioritized budget." The brain drain comes as the White House's budget slashes the agency's Fiscal Year 2026 funding to about half of its previous $7.33 billion allocation. The cuts come as President Donald Trump has led a push to reduce the federal budget and shrink the government's workforce. 'There is no set target number for the [resignation program]. This program is a voluntary opportunity available to NASA employees,' spokesperson Bethany Stevens said. 'We are working closely with the administration to ensure that America continues to lead the way in space exploration, advancing progress on key goals, including the moon and Mars,' she added. The report's findings come after leaders at NASA facilities told employees they already expected impacts and the Fiscal Year 2026 budget. A reduction in force at NASA, led by the Department of Government Efficiency, was initially delayed in February before the first layoffs in March, closing the Office of the Chief Scientists and Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy. 'Indiscriminately firing the next generation of NASA scientists, engineers and wider team members is exactly the wrong step to secure America's leadership in space — just as competition with China is reaching fever pitch,' George Whitesides, NASA's former Chief of Staff, said in a post on X reacting to layoffs in February. 'These employee terminations, like the layoffs of nuclear workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, bird flu workers at USDA, wildfire GIS workers at the Forest Service, and weather forecasters at NOAA, will only make America weaker.' If NASA's budget passes through Congress, the agency is expected to see blows to crucial initiatives that have been the product of decades of its research. Those would include 41 space missions, the agency's climate monitoring satellites and top climate lab, the ongoing Mars Sample Return mission and upcoming missions to Venus. In response to the budget, which would eliminate 47 percent of its science budget, all living former NASA science chiefs penned a letter condemning the cuts, calling on Congress to preserve U.S. leadership in space exploration and to reject the cuts. 'Continuing this support of space science is critical both in terms of leveraging existing activities while also planning and implementing future investments in the next generation of U.S. scientists and engineers who will lead the world in space science,' they wrote. 'To do otherwise would be to cede U.S. leadership in space and science to China and other nations, to severely damage a peerless and immensely capable engineering and scientific workforce, and to needlessly put to waste billions of dollars of taxpayer investments.'
Malay Mail
09-07-2025
- Health
- Malay Mail
Singapore courts Malaysian doctors with RM385,000 salary offers at KLCC amid concerns over brain drain
KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 — Singapore's Ministry of Health is directly interviewing Malaysian doctors and general practitioners at Traders Hotel KLCC as part of its move to strengthen its healthcare workforce. The recruitment drive offers a starting salary of S$110,000 (about RM385,000) per year, excluding monthly accommodation allowance, insurance and other benefits. User @dr_amandaelli on Threads described the offer as 'an excellent opportunity for doctors to accumulate strong savings before eventually returning home, whether or not they grow homesick.' The recruitment effort has attracted significant attention from Malaysia's medical community and online users. Singapore's offer comes amid ongoing concerns over brain drain in Malaysia's healthcare sector. According to BFM News, Malaysia's Health Ministry is looking into the issue.
Arab News
20-06-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Italy grapples with mass exodus and foreign influx amid economic fears
ROME: The number of Italians leaving their country and foreigners moving in has soared to the highest in a decade, official data showed on Friday, fueling national concerns about brain drain, economic decline, and immigration. Italy has a right-wing government elected in 2022 on a mandate to curb migrant arrivals, but also has a shrinking population and growing labor shortages, highlighting the need to attract foreign workers. Meanwhile, the country's stagnant economy and low wages — salaries are below 1990 levels in inflation-adjusted terms — have been blamed for pushing many Italians to seek better fortunes abroad. Ukrainians made up the biggest national group among those who arrived in 2023-2024, followed by Albanians, Bangladeshis, Moroccans, Romanians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Argentines, and Tunisians. Last year, 382,071 foreigners moved to Italy, up from 378,372 in 2023 and the highest since 2014, the statistics agency Istat said. In the same period, 155,732 Italians emigrated, up from 114,057 in 2023 and also the highest since 2014. The immigration figure beat the previous high for the last decade of 301,000 in 2017, and was well above that period's low of 191,766 from 2020 — the height of the COVID pandemic. The figure of almost 270,000 nationals emigrating in the two-year period from 2023 to 2024 was up around 40 percent compared to the previous two years. The two-year immigration figure for that period, around 760,000, was up 31 percent from 2021-2022. The figures are derived from town registry offices, so are unlikely to reflect undocumented migration. Ukrainians made up the biggest national group among those who arrived in 2023-2024, Istat said, followed by Albanians, Bangladeshis, Moroccans, Romanians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Argentines, and Tunisians. As for the high number of emigrants, 'it is more than plausible' that a significant number were 'former immigrants' who moved abroad after acquiring Italian citizenship, Istat said. The agency also said Italy's poorer south was continuing to depopulate, noting that almost 1 percent of residents in Calabria, the region with the lowest per capita income, moved to central or northern areas during 2023-2024.
Reuters
20-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy's immigration and emigration both soaring, stats agency says
ROME, June 20 (Reuters) - The numbers of Italians leaving their country and of foreigners moving in have soared to the highest in a decade, official data showed on Friday, fuelling national concerns about brain drain, economic decline and immigration. Italy has a right-wing government elected in 2022 on a mandate to curb migrant arrivals, but also has a shrinking population and growing labour shortages, highlighting the need to attract foreign workers. Meanwhile the country's stagnant economy and low wages - salaries are below 1990 levels in inflation-adjusted terms - have been blamed for pushing many Italians to seek better fortunes abroad. Last year 382,071 foreigners moved to Italy, up from 378,372 in 2023 and the highest since 2014, statistics agency Istat said. In the same period, 155,732 Italians emigrated, up from 114,057 in 2023 and also the highest since 2014. The immigration figure beat the previous high for the last decade of 301,000 in 2017, and was well above that period's low of 191,766 from 2020 - the height of the COVID pandemic. The figure of almost 270,000 nationals emigrating in the two-year period from 2023 to 2024 was up around 40% compared to the previous two years. The two-year immigration figure for that period, of around 760,000, was up 31% from 2021-2022. The figures are derived from town registry offices, so are unlikely to reflect undocumented migration. Ukrainians made up the biggest national group among those who arrived in 2023-2024, Istat said, followed by Albanians, Bangladeshis, Moroccans, Romanians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Argentines and Tunisians. As for the high number of emigrants, "it is more than plausible" that a significant number were "former immigrants" who moved abroad after acquiring Italian citizenship, Istat said. The agency also said Italy's poorer south was continuing to depopulate, noting that almost 1% of residents in Calabria, the region with the lowest per capita income, moved to central or northern areas during 2023-2024.
