Hospital preparation military engineers paid to go without (6)
I believe the answer is:
premed
'hospital preparation' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'military engineers paid to go without' is the wordplay.
'military engineers' becomes 'REME' (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers).
'paid' becomes 'pd' (I've seen this in other clues).
'to go without' indicates putting letters inside.
'reme' placed inside 'pd' is 'PREMED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for premed that I've seen before include "Sedation given before a general anaesthetic (abbr)" , "Sedative given before an operation" .)