Some 121 doctors have re-joined the register of medical practitioners in just over a week as part of the national response to COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Last week, the Medical Council, which is responsible for the register, launched a dedicated pathway for doctors to rejoin the register as part of the COVID-19 response, with all registration fees being waived.

Since then, 121 have rejoined. Some 55% of these are doctors returning to Ireland, while 45% are retired doctors who are re-joining the register.

"I am heartened to see the huge response we are seeing from colleagues who are coming out of retirement, returning to medical practice or returning home to Ireland in response to the challenges our country face with the COVID-19 pandemic," commented Medical Council president, Dr Rita Doyle.

She said that the health system and its staff are coming under "unprecedented pressure" at this time, but these doctors "are stepping forward to answer Ireland's call to help our country at our time of need, and to support colleagues already on the frontlines in this battle".

"There are many roles and positions available within our health service that doctors who return to the register can fulfill with the HSE. From working in our hospitals, to out-of-hours services, or triaging remotely over the phone and many more.

"The Medical Council is here to support doctors to get back onto the medical register for the purposes of responding to the pressures brought to our health service by COVID-19," Dr Doyle said.

According to the council's CEO, Bill Prasifka, it has been working "around the clock" to register doctors who want to re-join the register.

"In addition to doctors re-joining the register, in the coming weeks the Medical Council will begin to register over 1,000 new doctors for the first time to the intern division of the register as final year medical students complete their exams and qualify," he noted.

Any doctor who wishes to re-join the medical register should click here for more information.