How to become an internal medicine physician
Official title: Internal medicine physician
Also called: Internal medicine doctor, Internist, Internal medicine doctor, Internist
Internal medicine physician diagnoses and provides non-surgical treatment for a wide range of diseases and injuries of internal organ systems. He/she provides care mainly for adults and adolescents, and is based primarily in an outpatient care setting.
Main tasks
- Conducting physical examinations of patients and interviewing them and their families to determine their health status
- Considering medical information provided by a referring doctor or other healthcare provider
- Ordering specialised diagnostic tests to determine the nature of disorders or illnesses
- Prescribing, administering and monitoring patients’ responses to treatments, medications, anaesthetics, psychotherapies, physical rehabilitation programmes and other preventive and curative measures
- Recording patients’ medical information and exchanging information with other health professionals to ensure the provision of comprehensive care
- Reporting births, deaths and notifiable diseases to government authorities to meet legal and professional requirements
- Providing information to patients and families about preventive measures, treatment and care for specific ailments
- Conducting research into specific human disorders and illnesses and preventive or curative methods and disseminating the findings such as through scientific reports
How to become one
Occupations included in this unit group require completion of a university-level degree in basic medical education plus postgraduate clinical training in a medical specialisation (excluding general practice) or equivalent. Medical practitioners are required to be registered with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) or its equivalent and possess a Practising Certificate (PC) in order to practise medicine in Singapore. Medical practitioners who wish to practise as a specialist are required to be accredited by the Specialists Accreditation Board (SAB) or its equivalent and registered under the relevant specialty by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) or its equivalent.
Ways in
- University: Medicine & Dentistry degrees, Offered by 2 universities in Singapore
- Licence or registration: To practise medicine you must be registered with the Singapore Medical Council and hold a current practising certificate. Local graduates start with provisional registration during their first year of postgraduate training. To practise as a specialist you also need specialist registration, which follows accreditation by the Specialists Accreditation Board. Law: Medical Registration Act 1997. Regulator: Singapore Medical Council (SMC) (https://www.smc.gov.sg).
Pay · Outlook · AI and this job
- Median pay: $76,692 a year. The middle half earn $72,852 to $98,232 a year.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become an internal medicine physician?
Occupations included in this unit group require completion of a university-level degree in basic medical education plus postgraduate clinical training in a medical specialisation (excluding general practice) or equivalent. Medical practitioners are required to be registered with the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) or its equivalent and possess a Practising Certificate (PC) in order to practise medicine in Singapore. Medical practitioners who wish to practise as a specialist are required to be accredited by the Specialists Accreditation Board (SAB) or its equivalent and registered under the relevant specialty by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) or its equivalent.
How much does an internal medicine physician earn in Singapore?
Median full-time pay is $76,692 a year (Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg)). The middle half earn $72,852 to $98,232.
Will AI change the work of an internal medicine physician?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg): Resident Occupational Wages (Occupational Wage Survey) (June 2024 (data.gov.sg update 2026-04-01)), Singapore Open Data Licence v1.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Singapore Department of Statistics (SingStat): Singapore Standard Occupational Classification (SSOC) 2024 (SSOC 2024 (definitions and index updated 2026-06-24)), Singapore Open Data Licence, retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Updated 4 October 2026