Hospitals may lose unregistered foreign doctors

HOSPITALS could be left without dozens of senior staff unless changes to registration procedures for foreign doctors are enforced, experts have warned.

The amendments to the Medical Practitioners Act should make it easier for non-EU doctors to register here with the regulatory body, said the Irish Medical Council. However, the regulations to enforce the law changes, which came into effect last May, have not been put in place.

There are around 2,000 doctors from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) working in Irish hospitals, of whom around 400 are on the Irish Medical Council’s temporary register.