'More cash needed' to meet doctors shortfall
Huge financial resources must be ploughed into medical training to ensure the number of graduates is doubled, it was claimed today.
The introduction of major reforms based on a two-tier entry system and aptitude tests was welcomed by senior medical figures but they waned the issue of third level funding was crucial.
Dr Eamonn Shanahan, chairman of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), said: “Third level funding needs to be urgently addressed by the Government or we will literally not have the graduates to meet our medical needs in coming decades.
“Substantial funding and resources must be ploughed into the system to reduce training costs if the required number of students is to be recruited.”
New measures recommended by an expert working group include a reduction in the required Leaving Cert points from 570-plus to 450 and separate selection procedures for graduates and undergraduates.
But while welcoming the proposals, the ICGP warned they would not ease the crisis within the health system, which it claims is being funded by non-EU nationals.
While just 305 Irish students are currently admitted to study medicine each year, some 516 non-EU nationals are accepted. Doctors have claimed the country needs at least 750 a year.
Dr Shanahan described the current limit on Irish students as “arbitrary” and said the figure was dangerously low.
He said: “In a first world country such as Ireland it is scandalous to be allowing foreign students to fund our health system.
“The situation is at crisis point. Hospitals are being manned by non-EU nationals who are doing a sterling job but without them our health system would collapse.”
The Fottrell Group’s interim recommendations are intended to ensure the Leaving Cert is no longer the only selection method for undergraduates and are expected to be implemented in September 2006.
As well as a streamlined entry system, a number of places will be reserved at each medical school for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, allocated through aptitude tests.
Group spokesman Prof Muiris Fitzgerald, dean of the medicine faculty at University College Dublin, said he was hopeful the proposals should enhance the diversity of the profession.
“We are very keen to have many diverse streams around – people who bring different types of experience,” he said.
“You don’t need 570 points to do medicine or be a good doctor. Some 16% of students get 450 points so that’s a good solid baseline.
“And then, augmenting that is a very general aptitude test that will critically assess the thinking skills and versatility of individuals so we will still get the brightest and the best coming from the Leaving Cert.”
He said the second stream was aimed at those who had decided to study medicine later in life.
“They bring a lot of diverse experience,” Prof Fitzgerald added.
“They are more mature and by insisting they have a good degree combined with the general aptitude tests they should compliment students coming in through the other tier.”
Education Minister Noel Dempsey said the proposals would ease the pressure on second level students and provide a fairer mechanism for selection for entry into medicine.
“They will provide wider opportunities for students to enter the profession, with a choice of going direct from the Leaving Certificate or delaying that decision to a later age,” he said.
“This approach will provide for a more diverse background of entrants to medicine. It can impact extremely positively on both the second level education system and the medical profession.”
