Sir, – I write in response to "Medical graduates – 'The money is terrible, the job is terrible'" (Health, October 15th), which highlighted the stark reality for Irish medical graduates who are often forced to emigrate.
The situation described in the article must be addressed urgently if we are to fix the problems within our health system. To put the situation in context, the most recent Irish Medical Council report states that there are 63.1 GPs per 100,000 population practising medicine in Ireland. This figure falls well below international best practice of 80 per 100,000 population.
The Medical Council report also found that our reliance on international medical graduates is among the highest in the OECD, accounting for almost 38 per cent of the workforce.
The jobs exist but they are not attractive to Irish graduates. We are therefore training world-class family doctors for export.
We know that 915 GPs are set to emigrate or retire in the next five years. In the context of the current critical shortage of GPs in this country, this should be setting off alarm bells within the HSE and the Department of Health.
How can we compete with higher salaries, a better standard of life and a well-functioning health system?
General practice delivers 22 million consultations every year, projected to increase to 33 million within five years. We must start training enough GPs to address this need. Most importantly, we must deliver a new, fit-for-purpose GP contract which ensures that general practice is viable for young GPs. This is the only way we will be able to retain our GP graduates. We must also attract back those who have already left for better opportunities. We need to be competitive in an international work market where Irish graduates are much sought after.
Finally, we must find ways to ease the debt burden experienced by graduate medical students. These doctors are struggling to repay loans of up to €100,000 on a basic salary of approximately €2,583 per month. Many of these students are forced to emigrate for higher-paid working opportunities abroad to pay off these debts. – Yours, etc,
CHRIS GOODEY,
Chief Executive,
National Association
of General Practitioners,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.