Nearly €2m spent on recruiting doctors in India and Pakistan

THE HSE has spent almost €2 million recruiting junior doctors from India and Pakistan to plug gaps in the health service, Minister for Health James Reilly has revealed.

The total spend of €1.95 million up to the end of November 2011 includes about €169,000 on flights, Dr Reilly told the Dáil.

The great majority of doctors who failed to pass an examination set by the Medical Council have left Ireland, Dr Reilly said.

Some 116 doctors sat the exam last November and December and 54 passed – a pass rate of only 47 per cent.

The HSE, which paid the doctors €2,500 a month, said it would continue supporting them if they passed the exam, until they were registered.

Dr Reilly said that because the Medical Council appeals process takes some time, the doctors were advised that if they failed the exam they should return home and pursue any appeal of their results, or an application to resit the exam, from there.

Last year, the HSE organised a recruitment drive in India and Pakistan because of a major shortage of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs). Dr Reilly said this drive and the introduction of a registration process resulted in almost 290 doctors starting work in the Irish health service for the first time.

After exams in August 2011, and registration in September, 236 doctors began work. A further 49 started last month and the five remaining doctors will start shortly, the Minister said.

Following this year’s January roster changeover, 62 junior doctor posts remain unfilled, the HSE said last night.

A spokeswoman said most of these posts were being filled by locum or agency staff. “The HSE is working to address the dependence on agency staff,” she added.

The HSE had been criticised for allowing a situation to develop whereby the doctors arrived in Ireland months before they were allowed to undertake the clinical examinations and become registered. However, it has said the costs are minimal when savings on locums are taken into account.

The doctors were given up to €700 for travelling expenses before they came here and the majority bought return airline tickets, according to the HSE.

Last September, it emerged that some doctors left the Republic in frustration at the delay in sitting exams to attain their registration.