Some eight-thousand trainee doctors have returned to their training after walking out last year to protest the government’s health care reforms, with the trainee workforce standing at 76 percent of levels prior to the dispute.

According to the health ministry on Tuesday, seven-thousand-984 trainee doctors were selected for training starting in the second half of the year, only 59-point-one percent of the target number.
 
Trainee numbers reached 63 percent of the target at training hospitals in the capital area, but only 53-point-five percent outside the region.

The total number of trainee doctors, the recent returnees as well as those already in training, stood at ten-thousand-305, or 76-point-two percent of the tally in March 2024. 

In June this year, there were two-thousand-532 trainee doctors, only 18-point-seven percent of the usual number.