Ireland’s health service was inundated by offers from former healthcare professionals prepared to return to frontline service to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, a day after the government made its call to arms.
Some 24,000 people responded to a call for retired doctors, nurses, therapists and university students with sufficient skills to register with the health service so they can be pressed into service as they are needed in the weeks ahead.
Around 65,000 nurses and midwives are practicing in Ireland with 15,000 doctors registered to work, 7,000 of whom are currently doing so, according to their registering boards.
On Monday, Health Minister Simon Harris said there would be no financial limits to the recruitment program and no constraint on the numbers to be hired, telling prospective candidates: “Your country needs you.”
Nearly half confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ireland are in the capital Dublin, the health department said on Wednesday in its first detailed regional breakdown of figures as the daily growth rate eased.
Ireland’s total number of cases rose by 25% to 366, below the growth rate of the previous two days and the 30% level Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said would lead to an estimated 15,000 cases by the end of the month.
The number of people who have died from the virus remained at two.
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