Sir - I was alarmed to hear Mr Finbar Fitzpatrick of the Irish Hospital Consultant's Association suggest on RTE's Morning Ireland last week that "tradition" is the primary reason why Irish junior doctors leave the country in droves every year.
As someone who has left the country myself to further my medical career, I believe that the medical emigrant has more practical reasons. It is well known that the prospect of securing a hospital consultancy in Ireland is slim without the most impressive of curriculum vitae and even then there are no guarantees.
Foreign training in countries such as the US or the UK provides structured training with a certified end-point, which is appealing in itself. The much better job prospects in such countries thanks to greater health spending and initiatives such as Calman numbering (matching training posts to future consultant needs), together with the lack of opportunities in this country, ensure that a minority of emigrant doctors return. Mr Fitzpatrick mentioned poor work conditions as a factor. These are important mainly because there is no end-point in sight for the young doctor in training in this country. He mentioned that our small population means doctors must travel for experience. This, I believe, is important only for a small number of sub-specialists and could be achieved in a year or two in a foreign specialist centre if the proper grounding were received at home and the promise of employment on return were given.
When emigration was the norm, perhaps medical emigration did not seem unusual. At a time when general emigration has virtually ceased, medical emigration continues unabated. The State now pays the expensive tuition fees of the majority of our medical students and, because of the ongoing graduate drain, our small country subsidises the health services of richer countries. Surely the time has come to change this particular "tradition". - Yours, et.,
Dr Paul McCormick, Birchfield Court, Goatstown, Dublin 14.
