One in every twenty employees in the Health Service is currently absent from work.
The figure represents 6,000 approximately with the most absent including nurses, midwives, medical and dental staff.
The data was obtained by the Aontú.
Party Leader and TD for Meath West Peadar Toibín, says the absentee rate here is higher than in the UK:
"There are 1.5 million lost days a year. And that's double the rate of absenteeism in the general population. And it's actually 50% higher than the absenteeism experienced in the NHS. And it's having major problems throughout the health service. This is putting pressure because operations are often cancelled, treatments are cancelled, and the staff that are remaining have to pick up obviously the pressure".
