Vol. 575 No. 3
234 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children if health boards will be instructed to cease the practice, when it occurs, of recruiting qualified medical personnel from sub-Saharan African countries. [28168/03]
The strategy of health boards recruiting medical personnel abroad has generally been initially to target European Union countries which have a surplus of such personnel. Some boards have worked with FÁS-EURES in this regard. Applications for medical posts are received from candidates from the African continent on the initiative of the doctors themselves. These applications are treated in the same way as are all others for such posts.
The concept of ethical recruitment is underlined in Guidance for Best Practice on the Recruitment of Overseas Nurses and Midwives, published by the Department in December 2001. The document recommends that health service employers only actively recruit in countries where the national government supports the process. In examining opportunities for overseas recruitment, I am informed that the directors of human resources of the health boards have regard to the requirements for medical and nursing personnel in the relevant countries and, as a matter of practice, would not recruit where such activity would adversely affect the provision of health care in that country.
Non-consultant hospital doctors working in the State include in their numbers many non-nationals. They are generally working in training posts and the additional skill and expertise which they obtain will be of considerable benefit to those doctors on their return to their own countries.
