Junior doctors criticise lack of back-up plan after exam cancelled due to computer glitch

A group of junior doctors have criticised the lack of a back-up plan after their compulsory exam was cancelled due to a computer glitch.

Up to 170 of them were due to sit the second of a three-part exam in Walkinstown in Dublin this morning when authorities confirmed it could not go ahead.

It is part of an international exam sitting so all the candidates will have to re-sit in October.

The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland has apologised, saying they might be able to organise a re-sit next month.

One junior doctor, who did not want to be named, said there should have been a back-up system.

"It is a computer-based exam so there always should be a plan in place for a technical difficulty and there didn't seem to be any in place," she said.

"People were asking, 'well can you not print out papers and we can mark off multiple-choice' like we did in college or before and they said we don't have the facilities to print things like that.

"That there was a frustration. There didn't seem to be any kind of back-up plan."