Sir, – Junior doctors are contemplating going on strike and, according to the president of the Irish Medical Organisation, there’s “a lot of negotiations to be done, and a lot of money to be put behind what’s been said” (“Junior doctors expected to strike as Donnelly admits conditions are unacceptable”, News, May 28th).
Ireland has one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world and throwing even more money at the problem will not fix it.
Non-consultant hospital doctors (two-thirds of all doctors) deserve reasonable working conditions but this strike is more about preserving the status quo.
Junior trainee doctors do not like the proposed Sláintecare consultant contract because it precludes private work nor are they happy that they can no longer aspire to the salary levels of their older colleagues who attained consultant status before the government began, belatedly, to rein in spiralling consultant pay levels during the financial crisis.
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Most non-consultant hospital doctors are actually foreign and these are the ones doing the “shoring up” of our healthcare service, but under the current system very few of them will achieve a training position or a rewarding career as a hospital consultant in Ireland.
I doubt a strike will change that. – Yours, etc,
CORMAC O’CARROLL,
Salzburg,
Austria.
Sir, – Kate McDonald reports that Australia granted 402 visas to Irish doctors in the nine-month period to March 31st, 2022 (News, May 27th).
On April 16th, Simon Carswell reported (News) that the Government is considering a proposal to increase the number of places on medical courses by 200.
It is difficult to resist the temptation to file that proposal in the “we must be seen to be doing something” category.
Why train more doctors at great expense to the public purse so that they can provide medical care and pay their taxes in London or Perth?
The solution must be for those who run our well-resourced public health service to make it attractive – or at least tolerable – for more of our young doctors to stay in Ireland. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.