80% of the first Derry Magee Medical School students are staying in the North to work

Sinn Féin MLA Maolíosa McHugh welcomed the figures on Tuesday, April 29.

The West Tyrone MLA said: “The School of Medicine at Magee was established in 2021. With over 80% of the first group of 69 students graduating taking up roles as doctors in the north as part of their foundation programme, the benefits of the investment are only now coming to fruition.

“As we will have similar numbers qualifying as doctors from Magee on an annual basis from now on, the benefits will multiply going forward.

“There is a 20/20 rule that statistically most medical graduates stay up to 20 years within a 20 mile radius of where they are trained.”

The Sinn Féin MLA highlighted the potential positive impact of the medical school graduates on the North West region.

“This will have a major impact in particular in the North West and West of the Bann where there is a particular shortage of doctors and where many of our GP practices have been stretched to breaking point and beyond.”

The 70 new doctors were the first cohort to enter the first graduate-entry School of Medicine in Northern Ireland, and include students with a wide range of related and non-scientific/ healthcare backgrounds, from politics to investment banking, radiography, management consultancy, optometry, forensic science, nursing and even a previous lecturer in Irish at Ulster University.