Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent)
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188. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to amend the Medical Practitioners Acts 2007 to 2011 to allow non-national doctors to access specialist training, as failure to do so is likely to result in an exodus of such clinicians from Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29242/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Medical Practitioners Act 2007 provides that nationals of a non EEA country are registered in the Trainee Specialist Division of the Medical Council's Register if they have passed the Council's Pre-Registration Examination System (PRES) (or are exempt in line with legislation), have an approved training post and have been granted in a third country a document which, in the opinion of the Council, is at least the equivalent of a certificate of experience.

Amendments to the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, resulting from the modernisation of the EU Professional Qualifications Directive amongst others, are currently planned. Provisions in relation to registration is one of the areas being amended. It is proposed to remove the equivalence of the certificate of experience as a requirement for entry to the Trainee Specialist Division as part of the planned amendment process, subject to Government approval. This would mean that entry to the Trainee Specialist Division for non-EEA doctors would be by way of the PRES (unless exempted) and the offer of a specialist training post by the HSE in a recognised training programme.

However I am also conscious of Ireland's need to develop a national policy of self-sufficiency in medical personnel. The World Health Organisation recommends that countries 'strive to create a sustainable health workforce and work towards establishing effective planning, education and training, and retention strategies that will reduce their needs to recruit migrant health personnel'. Ireland is committed to a national policy of health worker self-sufficiency.

In this context, the HSE has developed the International Medical Graduate Training Initiative. This Initiative provides one possible route for overseas doctors wishing to undergo structured postgraduate medical training within the public health service in Ireland. The Training Initiative enables suitably qualified overseas postgraduate medical trainees to undertake a fixed period of active training in clinical services in Ireland.

The purpose of the Initiative is to enable overseas trainees to gain access to clinical experiences and training that they cannot get in their own country, with a view to enhancing and improving the individual’s medical training and learning, and in the medium to long term, the health services in their own countries.

The first bilateral agreement under this Initiative was signed with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan and the Initiative was launched in June 2013. In 2014, 100 trainees were offered posts under the Initiative following a joint selection process. Further expansion of this Initiative in the coming years is key to both delivering on Ireland's commitments under the WHO Global Code, and supporting the service requirements of the Irish public health system.