Sir, – Dr John Doherty (Letters, September 26th) correctly notes that Ireland has been "stealing" doctors from developing countries – but leaves unsaid the logical conclusion that Ireland needs to retain her own expensively trained medics.
Given that undergraduate fees are a political minefield, and that contingent service contracts will be likened to indentured servitude, isn’t it time to expand the graduate entry medicine programmes and reduce places in traditional undergraduate medical degrees?
These graduate programmes attract large numbers of applicants who are more sure of their desired career path than the average school-leaver and who are willing to pay the appropriate fees.
A foundation degree in science such as chemistry or biotechnology would give time to each school-leaver to decide if a career in medicine is really what he or she wants, without the snobbish parental pressure which pushes bright teenagers down the wrong professional path. – Yours, etc,
Dr ALEX
HARTINGTON,
Sliema,
Malta .