Frequently Asked Questions

Podiatrists are medical specialists who diagnose and manage conditions that impact the health of your feet, lower limbs, or its associated structures. They also provide podiatric care for complications that may arise from chronic health conditions, such as diabetes or arthritis.

Podiatry is available in most public restructured hospitals, polyclinics, and in private practice.

You can find a full list of podiatrist practices in Singapore at here.

Podiatrists in Singapore should have a podiatry degree from a University recognised by the Singapore’s Ministry of Health. In Singapore, most podiatrists are mainly qualified from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa or the United States. They may maintain their professional registrations with the regulating bodies of the countries where they qualified, such as the U.K. HCPC, or the Australian AHPRA.

As there are many insurance policies available, designed to meet your specific needs, with cases of exclusions, pre-existing conditions, lapses in premium payments, corporate insurance types, and many more scenarios that affect your coverage. For these reasons, it is recommended that patients check their own insurance policy coverage before attending a podiatry appointment.

Most patients see a podiatrist at least once a year to keep their feet and legs in check. For more chronic conditions your podiatrist would advise you if you needed to be seen on a 6 month, 3 month or monthly basis. The frequency of visits will vary based on the presenting condition.

The services offered by individual podiatrists will vary based on their own clinical expertise.experience and the types of medical equipment that is available in their practice. Podiatrists offer a range of services to address symptomatic or persistent skin and nail conditions of the foot, including the management of corns, calluses, warts, ingrown toenails, and fungal nail conditions. They diagnose these conditions and provide appropriate care and solutions to promote foot health and alleviate discomfort.

Podiatrists specialize in various areas such as musculoskeletal, sports, high-risk, and paediatric conditions. They offer specialized care and interventions within these areas to address specific foot and ankle conditions effectively.

If you are looking to consult a podiatrist in the public hospital or polyclinic, you may require a referral from a doctor to see the Podiatrist. To see a Podiatrist in private practice, no referral is needed. It is best to check your personal health insurance if a referral is required for insurance claims.

Podiatry degrees are typically 3-4 years in duration, full-time study.

All podiatrists are trained with a set of skills in podiatry medicine, after practicing for a while most podiatrists will choose to focus their skills on an area of speciality. This can include musculoskeletal, sports, high-risk, geriatric, routine soft tissue, and paediatric care.

Podiatrist is a protected title that refers to the undertaking of a specific podiatry degree in one of the recognised podiatry schools in countries such as the U.K, U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, Canada or South Africa.

Podiatrist qualification starts from a bachelor’s of science (BSc.) to possibly a Master’s Degree and even PhD. Podiatric Surgeons are podiatrists who underwent further surgical training and hospital residency to perform reconstructive foot and ankle surgeries.

Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (D.P.M.) is a unique title for Podiatrists trained in North America. Podiatrists are trained very differently in the U.S.A.; they go through podiatric medical school and rotate in hospital residencies, very similar to other doctors and surgeons. Upon qualification they are conferred the D.P.M. title. All United States qualified D.P.M. receive accredited surgical training within hospitals and medical centres, and are podiatric surgeons.

As there is no local school of podiatry, Singapore does offer some scholarships for podiatry.

More information can be found here.

Yes, as podiatry assistants requires a specific set of skills, there are focused courses available for this role.

See here for more information.

Continued professional development is vital for podiatrists. Practices may conduct their own CPD courses. The APM(S) organises CPD activities throughout the year which can be found here.