Doctor crisis: Just 15 of 270 recruits in system

JUST 15 out of 270 doctors recruited from abroad to meet an urgent shortfall in junior hospital doctors have been cleared to start work — two months after they arrived here.

Figures for September 1 supplied by the Medical Council show that fewer than 6% of the doctors, recruited by the HSE from India and Pakistan, have met the criteria for registration — despite the fact the HSE was aware six months ago of a pending shortage.

The doctors are being housed by the taxpayer at a cost of €100 a week for an eight-week period, while the HSE and the Medical Council work their way through a complex registration process.