Family doctors are leaving for the UK at a rate of one a day because of poor working conditions in the Irish health service, the Irish Medical Organisation has said.
More than 1,000 GPs emigrated to the UK between 2009 and 2013, and one in five trainees say they will leave, it said.
The IMO says the incoming government is facing an “unprecedented crisis” in public health services requiring immediate, substantial and sustained investment.
It urged voters to put health first when considering what party to vote for, but declined to say which party’s manifesto best addressed its demands.
The union called for increases in hospital beds, services and doctor numbers but declined to specify the additional resources it wants to see deployed.
IMO president Ray Walley said the scale of the challenge today was comparable to that faced by the Government when it took office: "Our familiarity with the problems in our health services has blinded us to how serious the issues have become".
A 10-year “national emergency” in hospital emergency departments has left the public health services perilously close to collapse and in urgent need of attention, he said.
He called on political parties to refrain from “irrational politically motivated reforms” and to concentrate instead on stabilising and supporting services.
The union says reductions in spending have resulted in a cumulative loss of €7.7 billion to the health services over the last six years. Per capita spending has fallen 20 per cent since 2009.
Meanwhile, the population is ageing on an “unprecedented scale”.
