Dempsey signals rise in trainee doctors

THE number of places for Irish medical students is set to be considerably increased, Education Minister Noel Dempsey indicated last night.

A cap set by the Government in 1979 prevents the country's medical schools from accepting more than 300 Irish students each year. But the number of fee-paying non-EU trainee doctors continues to rise, reaching 500 entrants last year.

Mr Dempsey and Health Minister Mícheál Martin are awaiting a report from an expert working group which is expected to recommend the cap be either raised or lifted completely. But, Mr Dempsey said, it is inevitable they will recommend an increase in numbers.

"The cap was put in place to ensure we did not have a complete oversupply of doctors but it's fairly obvious at this stage that the supply is considerably short of demand," he said.

"It is also a matter for the Health Minister, but I'd say it's more a question of the quantity rather than if we're going to increase the number of doctors at all," Mr Dempsey said.

He has supported the interim recommendations of the Working Group on Undergraduate Medical Education, which includes proposals to open entry to medical schools to more college graduates. School leavers seeking entry would be required to achieve 450 points in the Leaving Certificate, a mark reached by 9,267, or one-in-six, Leaving Certificate applicants to the Central Application System (CAO) this year.

Along with an aptitude test, also open to graduates, Mr Dempsey said this would considerably ease pressure on school leavers to gain the 570 points or more needed to study medicine.

Earlier, Oireachtas Health Committee chairman Batt O'Keeffe said the proposals were pointless unless the intake of Irish students is significantly increased.

"There are more than 500 non-EU students entering schools of medicine every year, which shows the cap on Irish students is just a way for universities to make money out of foreign students," Mr O'Keeffe said.

"The proposals give more people a chance of accessing the same number of places but they don't address the manpower problem in the health service," he said.

Professor Muiris Fitzgerald, dean of medicine at UCD and a member of the Working Group on Undergraduate Medical Education, said universities earning income from foreign students are following Government policy.

"We will be making a strong case for increased Government subsidies or other ways of funding increased numbers of Irish students," he said.

Dr Roisín Healy, spokesperson for Medical School Entry, which campaigns for more Irish training places, said dozens of young people are travelling abroad every year to study medicine because of the restrictions.

"The pressure on school leavers is getting higher because medical schools are taking more fee-paying graduates under their quota of Irish students," she said.