Ireland tops foreign-born medics list

IRELAND has the highest percentage rate of foreign nurses and doctors in Europe, with more than one in every three of our health workers originally coming from another country.

New figures revealed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) show 47% of all types of nurses and 35% of all grades of doctors working in Ireland have come from another jurisdiction.

The details are compiled in the extensive 597-page Health Professional Mobility and Health Systems report, which examined dependency rates between 2004 and 2009 and has been published in recent days.