Record level of GPs registered in Ireland

More doctors than ever before registered with the Medical Council of Ireland last year, the regulator announced yesterday, with nearly 40% of these doctors coming from abroad.

A total of 20,473 doctors registered with the Medical Council of Ireland in 2015. That is an increase of 7.5% from 2014. In 2008, when the Medical Council began to look at these figures, 17,741 doctors were on the register.

Some 37.9% of the doctors who registered last year trained in other countries. However, the number increases for specific specialties. Some 57.8% of doctors working in the area of obstetrics and gynaecology in 2015 trained abroad, while the figure was 55.9% in the area of emergency medicine.