The 115 women accepted into medical school this year impressed with their passion and how articulate they were.

Though every applicant on the shortlist had sterling results, many of the women shone in interviews, said MP Fatimah Lateef, who was on the selection committee for the NUS school of medicine.

Agreeing with her, another member of the committee, Dr Ivor Lim said while many of the male students applying to become doctors seemed to be 'going through the paces, some of the women were genuinely sincere in their quest'.

As a result, women make up 46 per cent of the 250 students entering the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine this year. Altogether, 782 students were interviewed, 378 of whom were women.

A spokesman for the National University of Singapore said after the quota on female medical students was lifted in 2002, female students made up 43 per cent in 2003, 41 per cent in 2004, 44 per cent in 2005, and 47 per cent in 2006.

That's not all. At the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 19 out of 26 of the inaugural batch of students are women.

Yet just five years ago, many females wouldn't have made it to medical school, X-factor or no X-factor.

For 24 years, a quota was put on the number of women entering medical school, limiting it to a third or less of the total number accepted.

The limit was imposed as the Government felt that training doctors was costly and went to waste when women quit to stay home, or worked part time.

The quota made Singapore's medical profession a male-dominated one. Women, especially those who made it to higher positions, seemed like anomalies.

Among the 7,611 registered doctors in Singapore, there are 2,163 women, registered between 1947 and Aug 28, 2007.

Being the cream of their crop, few of the eight women doctors Mind Your Body spoke to felt they had been overtly passed over or picked on because of their sex.

What seemed more common was the underlying assumption that women were more of a 'soft touch'.

The message coming loud and clear from her male counterparts, whether in medical school or afterwards, was that female medical students had it easy, said Dr Tan Poh Lin, now a consultant paediatric surgeon who performs complex stem cell transplants.

'They said all I had to do was smile at the professors. I'd have them know I worked really hard to get where I am today,' says the soft-spoken 39-year-old specialist in children's cancers at the National University Hospital.

To be fair, any bias they faced was not confined to Singapore.

Dr Fatimah said the only negative reactions she got from male doctors came at medical conferences in Europe and the United States, where they often seemed surprised to see a woman in the physically demanding world of emergency trauma medicine.

Changing times

Looking on the bright side, medicine's loss in the quota years was the gain of other professions, said Dr Ann Tan, now the President of the Association of Women Doctors (Singapore).

'Women were able to channel their talent elsewhere - law, architecture and education. It worked out to benefit the nation anyway,' said Dr Tan, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in private practice.

With the passage of time and the growing reality of competing on a world stage, the thinking changed - can you really afford to lose the talent from one half of the population?

In 2002, the quota was finally lifted after much lobbying from women doctors and politicians.

Dr Fatimah said entry now is fairly based on merit and less on gender bias. In any case, the challenge for a balanced life is one faced by all, and not only woman doctors.

Though it is difficult to gauge how many male and female doctors drop out of the profession, Professor Ho Lai Yun, a neonatologist who is the Master of the Academy of Medicine notes: 'Even male doctors have to balance worklife issues nowadays.'

It's no longer true that men work and women take care of the household. As gender roles converge, women doctors are coming into their own.

'Women are able to multi-task - juggling family, extra-curricular activities and professional lives better with help and support from family and daycare centres and yes, technology,' Dr Fatimah said.

'And when it comes to having children, it is the individual's decision. We see successful women also coping well with family and children. This is not limited to just women doctors.'

In fact, Singapore may be behind a number of countries in levelling the playing field. In Russia in 1990, 69 per cent of doctors were women.

In Mexico in 1999, women surpassed men in enrolment figures. In 2004, 46 per cent of students in Bangladesh's medical schools were women.

While equality and meritocracy are the cornerstones of any modern society, would a continued influx of women 'feminise' the medical profession, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan asked the association of women doctors two weeks ago.

Yes, said Professor Carol Black, former president of the Royal College of Physicians in Britain, who voiced concerns in 2004 that women entering the medical profession would make it less attractive to men.

But the truth is that medicine is a demanding profession and is not going to be taken over by women any time soon, even with a level playing field, said cosmetic dermatologist Dr Patricia Yuen. 'Medicine is a calling, not a part time job. The balancing act is hard and given society's expectations, I feel women still have it tougher than men do,' she said.

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Dr Fatimah Lateef I don't run in a crisis, I walk fast

Every time emergency medicine specialist Dr Fatimah Lateef led relief missions to countries like Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the local teams speak to her male subordinates rather than to her.

But Dr Fatimah does not lose any sleep over any perceived loss of face.

'They are not used, to having a woman upfront and leading a mission. That's okay, as long as we could get the work done,' said the 41-year-old senior consultant with the department of emergency medicine at the Singapore General Hospital.

The flip side is that women patients flocked to her.

Emergency medicine had not been her first choice.

'I wanted to specialise in internal medicine but found the going rather slow for me,' she said.

'I found my niche when I was attached to the emergency department. Making quick and snap decisions to save lives gave me an adrenaline rush. It suited my personality.'

Indeed, this interview was delayed slightly because Dr Fatimah needed to attend to a patient whose airway was collapsing.

'Emergency doctors don't rush. We don't even run. We just walk fast. We take big strides. If we run, we will panic others,' she said with a laugh.

But, it isn't all chaos in the emergency room.

Dr Fatimah takes time to show college students what the vocation is all about. She also lectures and trains juniors in the rudiments of emergency medicine.

'It is always flattering when I see the college student I showed around years ago coming back years later as a houseman,' she said.

'To think I could have done something right to inspire him or her into the profession.'

Her principle in life?

'If you have it, share it. If you want it, strive for it. Never take anything for granted. I live as though each day is my last, and learn as though I can live forever.'

» Resilient, like her patients