THE Government agreed yesterday to fast-track legislation to deal with the shortage of junior doctors in Irish hospitals, which has put services at some smaller hospitals in jeopardy.
The Medical Practitioners Amendment Bill, which will allow for up to 400 doctors from India and Pakistan to be registered to work in Ireland, was approved by the Cabinet on the recommendation of Minister for Health James Reilly.
The doctors are required to fill vacancies that arise on July 11th when junior doctors rotate posts as part of their training. At this stage, however, even if their registration with the Medical Council is speeded up, it's unlikely most of them would be ready for work here next month as they will also require Garda clearance.
While this can be sought at the same time as they apply for Medical Council registration, a Garda spokesman said vetting usually takes up to five weeks and even longer if it involves another jurisdiction.
Employers are usually advised to allow up to two months for vetting to be completed.
Speculation mounted yesterday over which smaller hospitals might lose emergency departments as a result of the staffing crisis - with only five of 32 hospital emergency departments having a full complement of junior doctors for July 11th at this stage - after Dr Reilly confirmed the HSE may end up with some emergency departments, probably in smaller hospitals, that can not be safely manned.
There are heightened concerns these could include emergency departments in hospitals such as Roscommon and Portlaoise.
Meanwhile the director of operations in the HSE West area, John Hennessy, said yesterday there was no possibility the emergency department at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick would be closed at night due to a shortage of junior doctors.
He told the HSE West regional forum that across the HSE West region - stretching from Limerick to Donegal - there were 81 or 10 per cent of posts in the upcoming rotation for junior doctors that still required to be filled. He said the Limerick hospital's emergency unit was staffed by 21 medical staff. It is seven junior doctors short.