Madam, – Many Irish newly qualified doctors are leaving Ireland largely because they cannot see a career for themselves here. This means that many trainee posts here are unfilled. The doctors have been expensively trained, mainly at taxpayers’ expense. The reason they cannot see a future is that for the past 41 years, since its establishment in 1970, Comhairle na nOspideal has tightly restricted the appointment of consultants. This, the policy of successive governments, means that this country and the UK have the highest ratio of trainee doctors to consultants (specialist or career grades) anywhere in the world. We have about 2.3 trainees to every specialist.
Our trainees come from Ireland and overseas, mainly India and Pakistan. No European country has anything approaching this ratio. In the US there are about five specialists for every trainee. France has a much admired health care system and has about five times as many surgeons per head of population as we have.
Our waiting lists are a direct result of the failure to appoint sufficient consultants.
Currently, more than half the doctors practising in the US are international graduates (formerly foreign medical graduates (FMGs). Irish graduates are particularly welcome to settle there once the initial state registration problems are sorted out.
Our Government’s approach to our present shortage is to attempt to recruit doctors from the Indian subcontinent to fill these trainee posts. The HSE is recruiting there.
In 1977, I attended a meeting of the Commonwealth Medical Association in New Delhi. I was presented to the prime minister, the charismatic Mrs Indira Ghandi (1917-1984) as the President of the British, Canadian and Irish Medical Associations (don’t ask). Mrs Gandhi regarded me for a moment and said evenly (Oxford graduate) “We don’t want you here. You are taking all our best people” In the words of the late Eric Morecombe “There’s no answer to that”. She moved swiftly on.
I have no problem with international graduates getting training and consultant posts here. We are doing the same ourselves in moving to the US and Australia. Many international graduates are among the politest group of doctors I have ever met, but some of the electorate, including parents of emigrating doctors, may be surprised that such well-rewarded career appointments are a direct result of Government policy. – Yours, etc,