Graduates pass their medical exams

THEY took the long way round but almost 50 new doctors have made history as the first to have come through medical school under a new entry method for graduates.

While there have been changes to how school leavers are chosen for places in the country’s medicine degree courses, the Leaving Certificate points needed were still sky high when most of the group who have just qualified were applying for college places.

While just 20 of the 49 graduate entry doctors who received their degrees yesterday from the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) are Irish, they came from a diverse rang of academic backgrounds.