Doctors have said that malaria drugs are becoming less effective

Nine out of ten Irish medical students are considering leaving the country when they qualify, a new survey has found.

Students cited working conditions in Ireland, perceptions regarding career opportunities and lifestyle as the main reasons they were considering migrating.

The study ‘Ireland’s medical brain drain: migration intentions of Irish medical students’ found more than a third of medical students definitely planned to migrate with a further 53pc contemplating it. However, 40pc expressed an intention of returning to Ireland within 5 years

Nearly two-thirds of students said they did not have a great understanding of the training following graduation, while a third also indicated that they had a poor understanding of how the Irish healthcare system worked.

The study found urgent interventions “such as providing information about career options and specialty training pathways” are required.

The study into Ireland’s medical brain drain is the largest of its kind in Ireland. It included over 2,000 medical students in Ireland studying across the country’s six medical schools. Led by NUI, Galway it will be published today in the open access journal Human Resources for Health.

Pishoy Gouda, a final year medical student at NUI Galway, was the principal investigator of the study. She said the findings were a major concern to the sustainability the Irish healthcare workforce.

“This outflow of qualified personnel may represent a financial loss to the Irish healthcare system, when one considers the costs involved in training medical students, the cost of recruiting replacements and the service delivery constraints if replacements cannot be found,” he said.

He also suggested postgraduate opportunities should be made more accessible to non-EU students who are trained in Ireland.

Dr Diarmuid O’Donovan, Senior Lecturer in Social and Preventive Medicine at NUI Galway, who supervised the study said interventions and changes are needed in order to retain medical graduates and attract those who have already emigrated to return.

“These statistics come at a time when Ireland is facing a significant shortfall in physicians. Because of this outflow of human capital, we are having to go to huge efforts to attract doctors from other countries, including developing nations. Not only is this a problem for Irish recruitment, but we need to be mindful of WHO guidelines on international recruitment and taking skilled personnel away from countries that have medical staff shortages”, said Dr O’Donovan.

Alongside NUI Galway, the report was co-authored by staff at the Department of Public Health, HSE West, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University of Limerick, University College Cork, University College Dublin, and Trinity College Dublin.

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