How does it feel to be facing into the start of your medical career at a time like this?
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)The Lift has chatted to 24-year-old Niall Leahy from Co. Mayo, who was one of the medicine students who graduated from NUI Galway in an online ceremony earlier this week.
He said he was getting ready to start work, but didn't know exactly when that would be:
"We've been told it'll be sometime in May. There is still a lot of administration to take place prior to us starting. We have applied for our jobs, so we now have to be matched to a particular job to a hospital depending on our results, and depending on the demand for that particular job. That will obviously be a long process that will have to take place, and when that's done then we will start."
Niall was one of 190 medicine students who graduated on Monday and he says his close friends are all keen to get started in the frontline.
"They're eager to start. They're understanding that it is exceptional circumstances, but nobody is scared of the challenge."
Challenges
The Lift asked Niall about the challenges facing Ireland's health system and frontline workers, particularly when it comes to the supply of personal protective equipment and other resources.
He said he had full confidence in the system.
"I trust those who are making the decisions. I trust the HSE and the ones that are leading this charge. I know they're doing their absolute utmost to try and equip every hospital as best they can, and they're trying to support every worker across all the disciplines in the hospital as best they can."
Listen back to the full interview with Niall here:
