A Shannon councillor wants national government to expand the Higher Education Authority (HEA) Free Fees Initiative to include students studying graduate entry medicine. Cllr Rachel Hartigan (FF) has said this will help with the “chronic” shortage of doctors in Ireland.
Cllr Hartigan (FF) has called on Minister for Further and Higher Education, James Lawless TD (FF) to examine the possibility of expanding the HEA Free Fees Initiative to include students studying graduate entry medicine.
Most undergraduate students attending publicly funded third-level courses do no have to pay tuition fees. Under the terms of the Free Fees Initiative, the Department of Further and Higher Education pays the fees to the colleges instead.
Cllr Hartigan told the March meeting of Clare County Council that while the country is currently experiencing a “chronic” shortage of doctors at the same time, the numbers of graduates opting to remain in Ireland to practise medicine are falling.
“There are seven GPs per 10,000 people, which is a serious deficit. There is funding going in to the International Medical Graduate (IMG) scheme, but at same time, it is not funding our graduates here in Ireland.”
The purpose of the Health Service Executive’s IMG training initiative is to enable overseas trainees to gain access to clinical experience and training in this country, which they are unable to obtain in their own home countries.
The councillor also presented figures to the local authority meeting illustrating that the medical degree exam fee is €15,920 at the University of Limerick (UL) and together with a mandatory GAMSAT screen test, the total cost is €17,020 in year 1.
She highlighted that in the United Kingdom, the total cost for the equivalent is €60,030 over four years, with €65,615 being the total cost when GAMSAT programme fees are included.
The GAMSAT is a graduate medical student admission test for applicants to graduate entry courses in medicine.
She also highlighted that students who are undertaking a medical degree are encouraged not to work saying that advice is “absolutely ridiculous” considering the high financial undertaking they make to study medicine in the first place.
Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) said he was “absolutely shocked” at the figures presented, and he couldn’t believe there are course tuition fees of up to €20,000 per academic year.
“I come from Kildysart, and they have no doctor out there. To have communities for all, we need services and one of those services is to have a doctor,” he said.
Cllr Rita McInerney supported the motion, saying: “The costs involved in a graduate programme are a huge financial burden to a family. These students are coming from an undergraduate programme so they come in with huge experience in another area, so they come in at a huge disadvantage.
“A lot of students end up going for financial loans to follow their dream. We have to support them to enable them carry-on,” she stressed.
Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) made the point that as a country, Ireland cannot fund its medicine students, but it can fund, “fancy valleys with an air squadron below in Shannon”.
Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) said he believed further advancements in this area can be made for the benefit of society, and that one caveat should be, if Ireland could hold on to a certain percentage of doctors, and require some of them to remain in the country to practise here.
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.