Samena Chaudhry Birmingham

Women applicants made up 41% of the medical students accepted by the National University of Singapore last year, despite a quota, imposed by the Singapore government in 1979 restricting their number to one third of the total.

The quota has been exceeded for three years. In 1999, 70 women or 35% of the total were accepted in the intake of 200. Last year, the percentage of females hit 41%.

Women form an increasing proportion of doctors in hi-tech Singapore

The university said that it did not plan to exceed the quota, which was imposed to prevent the high cost of training a doctor being wasted if women stopped working to care for their families. The university explained: "At the time of offer, the university attempted to keep the female intake of medical students to one third of the total intake. Male candidates who were offered places rejected the offers or opted not to disrupt their national service. This created the opportunity for the places to be filled with more female candidates."

The dean of the faculty, Lee Eng Hin, said: "If someone drops out, we give the place to the next best available student. If that happens to be a female student, we'll take her in. We do not say, 'Okay, let's keep it at one third,' and then cut off all the females."

Authors of a review of the medical education system, submitted to the government recently, said that Singapore needed more doctors as researchers if it was to be a regional biomedical hub. If that happened, said Professor Lee, there would be more opportunities for women doctors to work regular hours and it might be possible to lift the quota.

With only one doctor for every 720 people in Singapore--compared with one for every 600 in Britain, Singapore is now taking steps to boost its medical manpower. The medical school may soon admit university graduates, especially those with science degrees. The quota system imposed in 1979 will also be re-examined by an economic review committee panel.