Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take this matter. This matter relates to the junior doctor issue, a matter I have dealing with over the past two years. I am very concerned about the issue because of the 4,900 doctors employed in the health service, some 2,000 are on six-month only contracts. I eventually extracted this information from the HSE after approximately 18 months of seeking it.

Let me explain my concern. Junior doctors will start their job on 7 January and by 7 February they will start sitting interviews for jobs starting on 7 July. This is an unsatisfactory situation. There is no other employment system with a structure like this. This system causes uncertainty. We have a large number of qualified doctors leaving this country. The cost of producing 600 medical graduates per annum is approximately €90 million, because they are trained over a five year programme. Based on my figures and analysis, up to two-thirds of these graduates leave the country within 12 months of finishing. Many junior doctors are leaving once they have completed their intern year. In other words, €60 million of the investment made by taxpayers was spent on these doctors who have left.

I suggest we need to restructure the system. Will the Minister of State provide the up to date position in regard to the restructuring that was to occur? I understand the president of DCU was appointed to head up the group on this. What progress has been made and when are we likely to see an initial report and when are we likely to see changes in the contracts being offered to the junior doctors we are employing in our hospitals?