Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue I wish to raise is one my colleague, Senator Colm Burke, has raised on many occasions, namely, the acute shortage of doctors in our hospital system and the dependency on agency doctors, at enormous cost. It was mentioned in the House yesterday that we have more medical colleges per head of population than any other country in the developed world and we are investing heavily in the training and education of our doctors. However, we are failing to keep them within the system or to attract them to work in the HSE. As a result, we are dependent on doctors from developing countries. That is wrong because we are depriving those countries of the skills they require to improve their health systems.

An urgent debate is required with the new Minister for Health on what steps the HSE is taking to address this crisis in the health system. As I am aware from my local hospital, every six months there is a crisis when the junior hospital doctors move on to their next assignment, as the HSE is having huge difficulty attracting doctors to work in many of the hospitals throughout the country. We must have a discussion about that with the Minister as a matter of urgency.